The ACLU has sued the South Carolina Department of Corrections on Thursday, alleging that its policy banning those in its custody from speaking to reporters in person or having their writings directly published violates the First Amendment/free speech rights of prisoners, reports the Associated Press. While prisons across the county place some restrictions on in-person media interviews with inmates, the South Carolina Department of Corrections blanket ban stands out, said the ACLU.
A spokeswoman for the DOC said the decades-old policy protects the rights of the victims of the crimes that sent the inmates to prison in the first place. The ACLU’s lawsuit also targets the prisons ban that prohibits inmates from directly publishing their own words, citing Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Apostle Paul's New Testament books as materials that would not be published if governed by this law. The U.S. Supreme Court has found in the past that some restrictions are OK, if they aren’t based on the content of the speech and if all avenues of communications aren’t cut off.
Commenti