Am. Civil Liberties Union v. Livingston Cnty., No. 14-1617 (6th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseThe American Civil Liberties Union Fund of Michigan sent letters enclosed in sealed envelopes to 25 inmates at the Livingston County Jail that were marked “Legal Mail,” included the name and bar number of a Michigan attorney, and offered legal assistance regarding the Jail’s mail policy. The Jail’s written mail policy requires that all mail except “bona-fide legal mail” must be on 4x6 inch postcards; “legal mail,” on the other hand, may be sent in a sealed envelope and is generally not opened outside the inmate’s presence. The Jail did not deliver the ACLU’s letters to the inmates, nor did the Jail inform the ACLU or the inmates that the mail was not delivered. The ACLU filed suit, arguing that the Jail’s policies violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and obtained a preliminary injunction, requiring the Defendants to deliver the letters. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, rejecting the Jail’s argument that legal mail does not include mail from an attorney if the mail neither contains privileged content nor implicates an attorney-client relationship.
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