A federal judge will decide this week whether to issue a preliminary injunction against Adams County following allegations from a prison watchdog group that the jail has prevented inmates from receiving its magazines and correspondence.

The Human Rights Defense Center, a Florida-based nonprofit, accused the county in a Sept. 1 civil complaint of “unconstitutionally censoring” the organization’s communications with incarcerated individuals, which included mailings of educational materials about COVID-19.

“Yet since June 2019, and on an ongoing basis, the Jail and its employees have refused to deliver dozens of HRDC’s mailings to incarcerated persons, directly violating HRDC’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech,” the group wrote. The county jail reportedly returned the mail to HRDC or never notified the group of a failure to deliver.

HRDC’s request for an injunction seeks to prevent the county from continuing this alleged practice.

Assistant county attorney Kerri A. Booth, in response to HRDC’s request, wrote that the Adams County Detention Facility processes each item of mail individually to determine whether it presents a risk. She described that the facility “generally” distributes HRDC’s publications to inmates who have requested a subscription.

“HRDC cites to 32 alleged incidents of receiving returned mail. This provided them with at least 32 opportunities to call or write to ACDF to discuss and dispute the alleged ‘censorship’,” Booth explained. “HRDC fails to demonstrate any facts tending to show that it actually tried to challenged [sic] the rejections.”

J. Matthew Thornton, a Denver attorney at Ballard Spahr LLP, countered on behalf of HRDC that the group was unaware of any instances in which its mailed materials caused a security concern at any facility in the country. Citing the pressing need to inform inmates about the pandemic and the lack of notice for the jail’s reported rejection of mailings, HRDC believed the circumstances weighed in its favor for an injunction.

“If correctional facilities are allowed to simply throw away items that they choose not to deliver without any notice, it is impossible for publishers and incarcerated persons to know what materials are not being delivered and subsequently challenge the basis for the refusals,” wrote Thornton.

Such an intervention from the court, the county warned, would force the jail to “suddenly and quickly” overhaul the system for processing and distributing mail. While Adams County acknowledged the public interest in inmates accessing mail, Booth argued for the court to find a greater interest in preventing “dangerous and hazardous items” from entering the jail.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer has ordered arguments for and against the injunction on Wednesday morning.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in the past that detention facilities may impose regulations on inmate mail that are reasonably related to legitimate, penological goals. The safety of prisons and jails qualifies under that definition, reports Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, and therefore the standard allows correctional officers considerable deference in crafting policies.

If HRDC litigation proceeds to trial, the group hopes to receive a declaration that the Adams County jail’s policies are unconstitutional and to gain a permanent injunction.