Prison Ministry Group Sues Indiana Jail for Banning Amazon Books

The lawsuit claims the ban has no "legitimate penological justification"

A nonprofit prison ministry is suing an Indiana Jail after it instituted a policy that effectively banned the organization from sending books to incarcerated individuals. In their lawsuit, Unshackled Hearts argues that the policy, which prohibits books from being sent through Amazon and online distributors, violates their First Amendment rights.

Unshackled Hearts Ministries is a nonprofit organization that sends religious literature and provides spiritual counseling to prisoners in Indiana. Unshackled Hearts typically uses Amazon to order and deliver books, which the group says is an ideal way to minister to the incarcerated. 

"For the facility, a book sent by a large distributor such as Amazon is far less likely to contain contraband than a book sent by an incarcerated person's friends or family members," reads the complaint. "And for Unshackled Hearts, not only does Amazon offer an incredibly large selection of books on virtually every topic under the sun but it also offers free returns if, for instance, a book is rejected by a facility or a person is released or transferred prior to the book's arrival at the facility."

However, one jail's policies have effectively prevented Unshackled Hearts from sending books to inmates. According to the complaint, over the past several years, the Howard County jail has made it increasingly difficult for Unshackled Hearts to carry out its mission. 

Last year, the jail enacted a policy that completely banned book donations, with narrow exceptions for "holy scripture" donated by a "verified religious organization," educational material from a "verified education center," and information on rehab sent by a rehab center. 

Unshackled Hearts quickly informed jail officials that the policy was unlawful. In April 2023, the jail instituted a new policy with other major issues. Howard County inmates can receive books only if they are sent directly by the publisher. Books sent through distributors and retailers, like Amazon, will no longer be accepted.

Unshackled Hearts argues that this places a heavy burden on their activities, as many publishers don't ship books directly or have only a limited number of titles available for direct shipping. What's more, newer books are typically only sent by publishers in hardback form and the jail has a prohibition (which is not being challenged in the suit) on hardbacks.

The policy also requires that inmates obtain permission before receiving books, which "will require staff to process and approve this request, and then will require the incarcerated person to notify Unshackled Hearts that the request has been approved," reads the complaint. "Given that Unshackled Hearts most frequently communicates with incarcerated persons through the mail, this process will add at least several weeks to the process of sending literature to incarcerated persons. Depending on the Jail's process for approving books, it may add substantially more time than this."

The jail only allows inmates to receive two books each month, with narrow exceptions. In the suit, Unshackled Hearts argues that "not only do the exceptions to the Two-Book Rule for certain religious or educational materials undermine any attempt to justify this rule, but allowing books that fall within these exceptions but not other books represents impermissible content-based discrimination."

The suit asserts that these restrictions, which effectively ban Unshackled Hearts from sending books to inmates with no "legitimate penological justification," violate the First Amendment as well as Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 

"Systematically denying incarcerated Hoosiers access to books has been found to violate the U.S. Constitution," Gavin M. Rose, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Indiana, said in a press release last week. "The policy in place at Howard County Jail is nothing short of censorship, and there is no justification for shutting people off from the outside world in such a draconian way." The ACLU of Indiana filed the suit on behalf of Unshackled Hearts. 

The lawsuit is seeking a preliminary injunction against the policy, as well as damages for the "frustration" faced by Unshackled Heart's resulting from the policy.