US prisoners refused all books except Bible (SC)

[Ichingcarpenter]

Source: The Guardian

American Civil Liberties Union says jail in South Carolina is banning books 'for no good reason'

The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the "unconstitutional" policy at Berkeley County detention centre in Moncks Corner on behalf of monthly journal Prison Legal News last autumn. Last week a request by the US Department of Justice to stand alongside Prison Legal News as a plaintiff in the lawsuit was granted by a federal judge, and the ACLU has now asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a policy which it claims sees the jail's officials "unconstitutionally refusing to allow prisoners to receive any materials that contain staples or pictures of any level of nudity, including beachwear or underwear", effectively banning most books, magazines and newspapers.

Last year's lawsuit quotes an email from a member of staff at the prison to Prison Legal News, which said that "our inmates are only allowed to receive soft back bibles in the mail directly from the publisher. They are not allowed to have magazines, newspapers, or any other type of books". It charges that, since 2008, copies of Prison Legal News and books – including Protecting Your Health and Safety, which explains legal rights to inmates – sent to prisoners at the jail have been returned to sender. There is no library at the Berkeley County detention centre, the ACLU says, so that "prisoners who are incarcerated for extended periods of time have been deprived of access to magazines, newspapers and books – other than the Bible – for months or even years on end".

Officials at the jail responded to the ACLU lawsuit by saying that they only banned material containing staples and nudity. But the new ACLU motion to block this policy points out that legal pads containing staples were being sold at the jail. It claims that the no staples or nudity policy was "adopted post hoc and in response to this Case", and that it "eliminate access to reading material almost as completely as the 'Bible only' rule".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/10/us-prisoners-refused-books-bible

[defendandprotect]

1. Let's make prisoners really really stupid before we release them?

[no_hypocrisy]

2. No access to law books or books necessary to get a GED?

That's cruel and unusual punishment.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Thanks. I need to send the ACLU another donation.

[Muskypundit]

4. I feel really dumb and think im missing something

Nothing with staples in them? Ummmm...........?

[Quasimodem]

5. Luckily for the prisoners

There's a lot more gratuitous sex and violence in the Bible -- especially the Old Testament -- than most contemporary novels.

[hootinholler]

6. I gonna cut you bad man...

Has anyone seen my stapler? It's a red swingline...

-Hoot

[intaglio]

7. So they give prisoners a book that advocates

Child Sacrifice - Story of Jephthah and his daughter (Judges 11:29-40)

Rape - Find a virgin, rape her, pay her father 50 shekels, and then you can marry her! (Deuteronomy 22:28-29)

Rape again - but only after you've killed the brothers and mothers of the victim Numbers (Numbers 31:15-18)

Remember folks, The Skeptics Annotated Bible is your friend

[theselfishmeme]

8. Tulsa County Jail did allow only religious books. . . but no longer

Via FFRF.org (Freedom from Religion Foundation)


I had an issue with sending atheist books to a friend whom is in Tulsa Co. Jail. At the outset they only allowed "paperback, religiously themed books" to be sent to inmates. After the first book was returned on 2/14/11 I called the jail. The man that answered was rude to begin with, but once he found out I was sending an atheist book he became even ruder; denigrating my issue and mocking me. Right after I got off of the phone I wrote a detailed letter to the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF). Rebecca Markert, staff attorney, took action. I still had to navigate the bureaucracy as there was some miscommunication, apparently, and the books were returned a couple of times more. However, the Chief Deputy in charge of the jail contacted me today and has assured me that will no longer be the case. I can now send atheist books to him! Here's the FFRF's press release about my issue:

FFRF letter ensures atheist books delivered to Tulsa inmates


An FFRF letter launched a successful investigation involving county employees returning atheist books sent to an inmate at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center . FFRF's complainant attempted to send two atheist books to an inmate at the Justice Center via distributor Amazon.com. The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality was 'returned to sender' on February 14. A paperback copy of The Atheist's Way was returned on February 17. The Justice Center's policy allowed inmates to receive paperback copies of books that were religious in nature and sent directly from a distributor. The Justice Center's chaplain was in charge of determining which books met policy requirements. Rebecca Markert, FFRF senior staff attorney, wrote to Sheriff Stanley Glanz on March 23: "A policy that allows for the acceptance of religious books while rejecting all others demonstrates an endorsement and preference for religion over nonreligion. In addition, allowing the chaplain to determine if books are of a religious nature also carries with it the risk that the Justice Center will endorse a preference for one religion over another, or religion over non-religion." Sheriff Glanz acknowledged on April 11 that the books were never signed for by front desk employees, as they should have been. "I do not promote discrimination, of any kind, within this organization and investigate all allegations thoroughly. . . . After speaking with the employees I am comfortable stating that they misinterpreted the policy and in no way were they acting in a malicious, discriminatory manner. . . . Finding this error, we have made the appropriate changes to our policy and have ensured that all employees stationed at the front desk are made aware of the updated changes to our acceptance policy of inmate packages sent to the facility. . . . hile I sincerely apologize for the inadvertent offense to your claimant, these actions were not meant as interpreted." — Bonnie Gutsch

http://ffrf.org/legal/challenges/ffrf-letter-ensures-atheist-books-delivered-to-tulsa-inmates/

[theselfishmeme]

9. Links to letters

Here are the links to the letters regarding my issue sending the books, in case anyone is interested (though it may only be interesting to me, lol)

Letter from the FFRF to Sheriff Glanz:

http://ffrf.org/uploads/legal/Tulsa%20Cty%20Justice%20Center%20Letter.pdf

Letter from Sheriff Glanz to the FFRF:

http://ffrf.org/uploads/legal/Tulsa%20Cty%20Sheriff%20Response.pdf