Lawsuit
A.B.O. Comix v. San Mateo County
A lawsuit challenging the digitization and destruction of mail in San Mateo County’s jails
The Knight Institute, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Social Justice Legal Foundation are challenging San Mateo County, California’s policy of digitizing and then destroying physical mail sent to people in its jails. The plaintiffs in the case include five people incarcerated in San Mateo County jails, two of their family members, and A.B.O. Comix, a collective of artists that corresponds with LGBTQ people in prisons and jails.
Under this policy, members of the public are forbidden from sending physical mail to individuals in San Mateo County’s jails. Instead, they must route letters to a private company, Smart Communications, which scans and stores digital copies of the mail for at least seven years. The originals are destroyed, while the scanned copies are retained in a database that allows the county—and anyone to whom the county has provided access—to monitor, read, and search through mail for any reason, or for no reason at all.
The lawsuit argues that the county’s mail policy violates Article I, Section 2 and Article I, Section 13 of the California state constitution.
Status: Proceeding to discovery on Count One; hearing on Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on Count Two continued to April 10, 2024.
Case Information: A.B.O. Comix v. San Mateo Cnty., No. 23-civ-01075 (Super. Ct. of San Mateo Cnty.), No. 23-cv-1865 (N.D. Cal.).
Press Statements
Analysis
Legal Filings
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Super. Ct. of San Mateo Cnty.
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Order
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Defendants' Response (to Plaintiffs' Supplemental Brief)
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Plaintiffs' Supplemental Brief
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Tentative Ruling
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Defendants' Objections (to Corrected Declaration of Cara Gagliano)
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Declaration of Chad E. Deveaux (in support of Defendants' objections)
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Declaration of Cristofer Serrano (in relation to Defendants' Motion for Judgment)
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Defendants’ Motion for Leave (to file a Sur-reply)
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Declaration of Chad E. Deveaux (in support of Defendants' Motion for Leave)
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Defendants' Opposition (to Plaintiffs' Objections)
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Defendants' Objections (to Declaration of Cara Gagliano)
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Plaintiffs' Opposition (to Defendants' Supplemental Request)
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Corrected Declaration of Cara Gagliano (in support of Plaintiffs’ Opposition)
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Plaintiffs' Sur-reply (to Defendants' Motion for Judgment)
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Corrected Declaration of Cara Gagliano (in support of Plaintiffs’ Sur-reply)
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Defendants' Reply (to Plaintiffs' Opposition)
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Defendants' Supplemental Request for Judicial Notice
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Plaintiffs' Answer
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Plaintiffs' Opposition (to Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings)
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Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings
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Joint Stipulation
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Defendants' Answer
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Order (granting remand to state court)
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Notice of Removal (to N.D. Cal.)
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Complaint
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N.D. Cal.