Ste. Genevieve jail inmates get newspapers back

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Ste. Genevieve County Jail inmates will receive newspapers again after a settlement was reached between the county and a former inmate.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri filed a suit Jan. 2 on behalf of Stanley Schell, a former detainee at the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff's Office Detention Center, after he was told the sheriff was no longer allowing local newspapers into the jail. Schell stopped receiving newspapers after a letter to the editor he wrote was published in the Ste. Genevieve Herald, to which he had a prepaid subscription, according to an ACLU news release.

As part of the settlement, Ste. Genevieve County has adopted new jail policies regarding newspaper subscriptions and other written material mailed to detainees as part of the settlement, the ACLU said in the release.

Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU-EM, said the settlement was a "significant victory for detainees."

Pertinent address:

5 Basler Drive, Ste. Genevieve, MO