Missouri Jail Settles Suit over Due Process Violation in Mail Policy
Missouri Jail Settles Suit over Due Process Violation in Mail Policy
by David M. Reutter
Less than sixty days after a civil rights action was filed against Missouri’s Morgan County Adult Detention Center (MCADC) alleging due process violations over the jail’s handling of incoming mail, MCADC reached a settlement to resolve the litigation.
Tara Bellenger, an Oregon resident, regularly corresponds with a prisoner held at MCADC. On several occasions, MCADC personnel confiscated her correspondence after it was rejected for allegedly violating prisoner-mail violations. She was not provided notice of the rejection or the opportunity to contest the decision to reject her written materials. The prisoner, however, was provided such notice and a grievance opportunity.
The civil rights action, filed on July 16, 2013, sought class certification for the Fourteenth Amendment violation of failing to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard when rejecting written materials sent vial mail. MCADC did not admit any wrongdoing but wasted no time in reaching a settlement.
The federal district court overseeing the litigation entered a consent order and judgment on Sept 9, 2013. It provided that MDADC adopt “a policy that provides senders of written materials both notice and an opportunity to appeal when communications with detainees” MCADC are rejected or seized.
Attached to the order was a copy of the mail policy MDACD adopted as part of the settlement. It provides for written notification of rejections within five days, it identifies the material or contraband rejected with specificity, provides the sender be informed of the opportunity to appeal and be provided a copy of or website link to MCADC’s mail policy, that any appeal will be decided by a person higher in rank than the rejecting employee, the sender will be advised of the decision within 10 days and the written materials be returned of the appeal is denied.
The consent order also provides for an award of $4,431.78 to Ballenger, who was represented by attorneys Anthony E. Rothert and Grant R. Doty of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri. See: Ballenger v. County of Morgan, Missouri, U.S.D.C. (W.D. Missouri), Case No. 2:13-cv-04177.
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Related legal case
Ballenger v. County of Morgan, Missouri
| Year | 2013 |
|---|---|
| Cite | U.S.D.C. (W.D. Missouri), Case No. 2:13-cv-04177 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |
| Damages | 4,431.78 |
| Injunction Status | Granted |