The court of appeals affirmed a judgment of the district court in part, vacated in part and remanded. The court held that the publisher of a monthly prison news magazine was entitled to recover attorneys’ fees for monitoring state officials’ compliance with a settlement agreement resolving claims about prison conditions.
Prison Legal News (PLN), a nonprofit charitable organization, publishes Prison Legal News, a monthly magazine relating to the rights of prisoners, and distributes prison-oriented books. PLN and state officials in charge of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) negotiated a settlement agreement resolving claims of PLN. PLN had contended that CDCR policies banning its books and refusing delivery of its magazine had violated PLN’s First Amendment right to free speech and Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.
