Challenging Jail’s Ban on Shipping Books to Inmates
An incarcerated person reading.
Impact Fund grantee Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt LLP recently made major progress in their case Avid Bookshop v. Taylor et al. by defeating a motion to dismiss (which would have ended the lawsuit).
Avid Bookshop v. Taylor et al. is a First Amendment case against the Gwinnett County Jail in Lawrenceville, Georgia, for restricting incarcerated peoples’ access to books.
Avid Bookshop is challenging Gwinnett County Jail’s mail policy that bars physical bookstores from shipping books to jail residents, arguing that this goes against the Constitution.
In November 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that the case may go forward. The case is currently in discovery, and the attorneys recently hired an expert using our grant funds.
The Impact Fund granted $10,650 to support this case in 2024.