We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
DC COURT RULES PRISON REFORM ADVOCATE CAN SUE BOP OVER EMAIL BLOCK
Prison reform advocate Pamela Bailey and her More Than Our Crimes foundation may proceed with her claim that a Bureau of Prisons Trulincs email block on her communications with prisoners violates her 1st Amendment rights.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman granted the BOP’s motion to dismiss 1st Amendment retaliation claims but said Bailey could go forward with her claims on violation of her 1st Amendment free speech and 5th Amendment due process rights.
Bailey sued last April, claiming that seven BOP facilities – FCI Ray Brook, USP Big Sandy, FCI Hazelton, USP Marion, FCI Pekin, FCI Florence and USP Beaumont – blocked her messaging access beginning in 2022. The only reason ever given to her was that some inmates had added her to their approved list of contacts without her full, correct name being stated.
The government has since argued that Bailey was helping inmates pass messages on to other inmates. Unimpressed with this argument, Judge Friedman last June granted a preliminary injunction, ordering “that the BOP restore Ms. Bailey’s TRULINCS access” at the seven facilities.
“In order to ensure that Ms. Bailey’s TRULINCS access is not unconstitutionally blocked during the pendency of this suit,” Judge Friedman wrote, “the Court will also prohibit the BOP from blocking Ms. Bailey’s TRULINCS communication with inmates at those facilities, absent a specific, factual determination of misconduct by Ms. Bailey or the inmate that is timely communicated Ms. Bailey in writing.”
More than Our Crimes states on its website that it “amplifies the voices of the nearly 200,000 Americans in federal prison — many of them people of color. While they were once convicted of serious crimes, our members are ready for a second chance to live freely and contribute to their families and society. Meanwhile, we advocate for a humane prison environment that is centered on rehabilitation.”
Opinion (ECF 28), Bailey v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Case No. 1:24-cv-1219 (D.D.C., Apr 11, 2025)
Opinion (ECF 18), Bailey v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Case No. 1:24-cv-1219, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114113 (D.D.C., June 28, 2024)
– Thomas L. Root