TACOMA — The Human Rights Defense Center has filed a 600-page lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Tacoma alleging that informational mail sent to inmates in the Pacific County Department of Corrections (formerly Pacific County Jail) was censored.

According to the lawsuit filed Dec. 30, 2024, HRDC sends out two monthly publications to jails for inmates to understand their rights. These are titled “Prison Legal News” and “Criminal Legal News.” The nonprofit alleges the county jail regularly withholds the publications from inmates.

The publications sent to the jail since early-2024 have been routinely sent back to HRDC marked with “return to sender.”

When questioned about the decision, former jail head Michael Parker, who is now the undersheriff, said the publications would be retained in the library if they were “addressed to the jail and not to specific inmates.”

According to the lawsuit, the nonprofit is alleging violations of inmates’ First and 14th Amendment rights.

Sheriff Daniel Garcia and Parker are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The nonprofit is represented by top-tier Seattle law firm MacDonald Hoague & Bayless, with Jesse Wing as the lead attorney. The sheriff is being represented by Olympia attorney Michael Throgmorton.