Athens bookstore files First Amendment lawsuit against Gwinnett County sheriff, jail commander
By Chelsea Beimfohr
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ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — As the operations manager of Avid Bookshop in Athens, Luis Correa is passionate about books and literature. So when a customer asked him to mail books to an inmate at the Gwinnett County Jail last year, he was happy to help.
“I thought I had followed everything down to the letter and of course, they had these byzantine policies in place,” Correa said.
Shortly after shipping the books, Correa said they showed back up to his shop with a slip that said they didn’t come from an “authorized retailer.”
“Being able to send books to someone who is incarcerated is an act of free speech, is an act of expression and the government should not be able to inhibit that kind of expression,” Correa said.
Avid Bookshop filed a federal lawsuit against Gwinnett County Sheriff Keybo Taylor and Chief Jailer Benjamin Haynes challenging the constitutionality of the jail’s mail policy, which says magazines and books will be accepted as long as they are mailed directly from a publisher or authorized retailer.
The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office declined to speak with Atlanta News First Tuesday but issued a statement explaining that the policy has nothing to do with the content of books, but everything to do with safety.
“The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office policy maintains the safety and security of our staff and inmates. It does not limit the content or subject matter of the publication, but only the origin of the shipment. The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office will not comment further on pending litigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The policy is intended to prevent contraband from getting inside the jail.
“Regardless of what their intentions might be or are behind what they think might be, they’ve created a blanket ban on independent bookstores being able to express themselves through their policies,” Correa said.
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