ACLU Lawsuit Charges That Jail Policy Banning Books And Magazines Is Unconstitutional
October 6, 2010
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CHARLESTON, SC – The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit
challenging an unconstitutional policy at the Berkeley County Detention Center
in Moncks Corner, S.C. barring all books, magazines and newspapers – except for
the Bible – from being sent to prisoners.
Filed on behalf of Prison Legal News, a monthly journal on prison law
distributed across the nation to prisoners, attorneys, judges, law libraries
and other subscribers, the lawsuit charges that jail officials violate the
rights of Prison Legal News under the speech, establishment and due process
clauses of the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by refusing
to deliver copies of the journal and other magazines and books to
detainees.
"This is nothing less than unjustified censorship," said David
Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project. "There is
no legitimate justification for denying detainees access to periodicals and, in
the process, shutting them off from the outside world in draconian
ways."
Prison Legal News, which provides information about legal issues such as court
access, disciplinary hearings, prison conditions, excessive force, mail
censorship, prison and jail litigation, visitation, telephones, religious
freedom, prison rape and the death penalty, has been published since 1990 and
has about 7,000 subscribers across the country. It also distributes various
books aimed at fostering a better understanding of criminal justice policies
and allowing prisoners to educate themselves in areas such as legal research,
how to write a business letter and health care in prison.
The ACLU lawsuit charges that since 2008, copies of Prison Legal News and other
books sent to detainees at Berkeley County have been returned to sender, or
simply discarded. The books rejected by the jail's officials include
"Protecting Your Health and Safety," which is designed to help
prisoners not represented by an attorney and explains the legal rights inmates
have regarding health and safety – including the right to medical care and to
be free from inhumane treatment.
Prison Legal News is also prohibited from sending to detainees copies of the
book "Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual," which is published by
Oxford University Press and which serves as a guide for prisoners and prisoner
advocates seeking to understand the rights guaranteed to prisoners by law and
how to protect those rights.
"We have a clear First Amendment right to communicate with the detainees
at the Berkeley County Detention Center by sending them our journal and other
books," said Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News. "Prisoners do
not cede their core constitutional rights simply by being incarcerated, and
their being able to receive the material we send is essential to ensuring that
their rights are upheld."
There is no library at the Berkeley County Detention Center, meaning that some
prisoners who are incarcerated for extended periods of time have been deprived
of all access to magazines, newspapers and books – other than the Bible – for
months or even years on end. There is also no process through which the
unconstitutional policy can be challenged.
"The Berkeley County Detention Center is totally out of step with most
other jails around the country that recognize not just that censorship of this
sort is clearly unconstitutional but that providing prisoners with access to
books and periodicals is an important lifeline to the outside world," said
Victoria Middleton, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina. "We
should do as much as possible to aid prisoners' successful transition back into
society, not impede it."
Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, the lawsuit
names as defendants Berkeley County Sheriff H. Wayne DeWitt, as well as a
number of other corrections officials.