COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – A South Carolina prison policy that prohibits inmates from speaking directly to reporters or directly publishing their work violates their First Amendment right to free speech. civil rights groups said in a federal lawsuit Thursday.
County jails have restrictions on in-person media interviews with inmates, including when, how long, and whether inmates must request interviews themselves, but South Carolina Department of Corrections The ban stands out. said the American Civil Liberties Union in a statement.
Allen Cheney, legal director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said, “It has moved the SCDC away from real public accountability and has compromised the public’s knowledge of the violence perpetrated against prisoners, crimes committed in the name of the people themselves.” They are working to suppress them.”
A state prison spokesperson said the policy, which has been in place for decades, protects the rights of victims of the crimes that sent inmates to prison in the first place and allows prison staff to have unlimited communication with inmates. He said that it is helping to strictly control matters that could pose a threat to the government. Peace of mind and safety.
“This does not mean that inmates are completely cut off from the outside world; there are usually other ways inmates can access media with minimal security risk, such as monitored telephone calls and written communications. There are controlled communication channels that allow them to do so,” the Department of Corrections said. spokeswoman Christy Shine said in a statement.
The ACLU’s lawsuit also targets the prison’s ban, which allows inmates to quote portions of their words or summarize them in publications, but prohibits them from publishing directly.
Civil rights groups have cited Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, which justifies civil disobedience against unjust laws, and the Apostle Paul’s writings while imprisoned in Rome nearly 2,000 years ago. He stated that the four books of the New Testament written by him could not be published. Based on South Carolina regulations.
In the complaint, two inmates represented by the ACLU say they would like to tell their stories in person or in person but are unable to do so. One, a transgender woman who killed her mother when she was 13 and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in prison, is suing the state prison for denying her care.
The second person is Marion Bowman, who was convicted of murdering a woman and burning her body in the trunk of her car. The ACLU says Bowman wants to tell his story as he prepares to ask the governor for a pardon.
The ACLU’s lawsuit says, “A blog post about how much it would cost South Carolina if it murdered Marion Bowman was a public hearing from Marion’s own voice, his own laughter, his own suffering. It is not a replacement.”
Civil rights groups plan to ask a federal judge to immediately suspend the ban until the case is heard.
South Carolina prison officials say previous lawsuits over inmates’ free speech rights have gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that all forms of communication should not be based on the content of the speech. It has been determined that the restrictions are not a problem as long as they are not blocked.
Inmates in South Carolina can write letters to anyone, including reporters, and stamps and stationery are available to inmates who can’t afford to buy them, Shain said.
she also said this post and courier The Charleston newspaper reported on the 2018 prison riot at Lee Correctional Facility in which seven inmates were killed, and said it wrote letters to more than 400 inmates and received letters back from at least 100.
Inmates can also authorize reporters to be placed on their phone list, as long as their statements are not recorded and rebroadcast. Associated Press interviewed one of two inmates who killed four fellow prisoners in this manner in 2017.
Alex Murdaugh, former lawyer serving two life sentences for murdering his wife and son I’m in trouble That’s because a recording of the call with his lawyer was shown as part of the documentary.
Authorities allow cameras to be installed inside prisons for tours and certain programs, and allow interviews with inmates during those visits, which do not show faces and only give first names. limited to when used.