Avid Bookshop has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Gwinnett County Jail’s mail policy. Avid asserts that the policy violates its First Amendment rights by denying Avid the ability to mail books to Jail residents. 

Avid is an independent, community-based bookstore located in the heart of Athens, Georgia. In selling books, Avid strives to do more than merely make a profit: Avid is passionate about standing up for the freedom to read. Its staff carefully curates its inventory to be engaged with the local community and to offer selections on a wide range of social concerns. 

In May of 2023, Avid was approached by customers who requested that Avid mail books to an individual residing at the Gwinnett County Jail. The Jail rejected Avid’s book shipments on the basis that Avid was not an “authorized retailer,” a murky descriptor that the Jail has interpreted to preclude brick-and-mortar bookstores, such as Avid, from communicating with Gwinnett County Jail inmates by sending them books.  

Read more