Whitehead v. Management & Training Corp.

Monte Whitehead was determined to better himself while in prison. But the prison stymied him at every turn. He wanted to write an article about the impact of the private prison industry in New Mexico, but he was denied access to the books and articles he needed as source material. He wanted to read veterinary textbooks to stay up to date on the profession he’d practiced prior to incarceration, but the prison barred him from obtaining not only the textbooks but also various veterinary journals.

The list goes on. New Mexico’s regulations limit prisoners to purchasing books only from “approved vendors” (many of which have limited and skewed catalogs), bar prisoners from receiving printouts of newspaper articles, and ban all hardcover books, among others. And when Mr. Whitehead tried to challenge those restrictions, he was transferred to a less desirable prison.

The MacArthur Justice Center and the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis are proud to represent Mr. Whitehead in his appeal to the Tenth Circuit, arguing that the prison’s restrictions violate the First Amendment.