Some people really love their magazines.

On Thursday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found that a South Dakota prisoner who was denied delivery of a magazine has a right to file a civil rights claim against the prison for mail censorship.

Anthany Kaden, an inmate at the South Dakota State Penitentiary (SDSP), alleges that the prison’s warden and staff violated the First Amendment by refusing to give him a magazine he had ordered because it was too violent. Kaden sued the prison under the Civil Rights Act seeking damages and the right to receive the magazine.

The district court dismissed the case, finding that SDSP’s regulation governing mail censorship was valid and that Kaden, as a matter of law, failed to show the rejection of his comic book rose to the level of a constitutional violation. Kaden appealed, arguing that it was at least plausible that denial of the comic book violated the First Amendment and that the district court should have at least required defendants to answer.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the allegations were sufficient to plausibly state a claim under the Civil Rights Act, and that there was a reasonable inference that SDSP’s mail censorship policy was unconstitutionally applied to the comic book.

We’re annoyed when one of our magazines is lost in the mail, but we don’t actually care enough to call subscriber services, much less file a lawsuit over it. What do you think? Was Anthany Kaden’s comic book temper tantrum warranted?

Related Resources:

  • Anthany Kaden v. Daryl Slykhuis (Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
  • Warrantless Search of Vehicle Nabs Missouri Drug Trafficker (FindLaw’s Eighth Circuit blog)
  • FindLaw’s Eighth Circuit blog (FindLaw)
  • Prison Guard’s Reading of “Legal Mail” Not a Violation of Prisoner’s Rights (FindLaw’s Sixth Circuit blog)
  • Facebook’s E-mail Censorship is Legally Dubious, Experts Say (Wired)

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