On March 3, 2011 Reentry Central published an article about a Texas sheriff who took it upon himself to ban books, magazines, and other forms of reading material from the Galveston County Jail. The sheriff had a change of heart after Prison Legal News filed a federal lawsuit. (See Prison Legal News Settles With Texas Sheriff Who Banned Books and Magazines in Jail, Reentry Central News)
Now, according to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, PLN is ready to do battle once again, this time with Sheriff H. Wayne Dewitt, of the Berkeley County Detention Center in Moncks Corner, S.C.
PLN filed a lawsuit in October, 2010 because Dewitt refuses to let prisoners receive any other book other than the King James version of the Bible. Apparently DeWitt believes it is fine to provide certain Christians with Bibles, but has told Jewish and Muslim inmates that he will not provide copies of the Torah, or Koran. DeWitt willingly hands out the Bible to inmates, but forces an inmate’s family to buy, and bring to the jail, copies of the Torah or Koran for jail staff to give to an inmate.
Perhaps DeWitt was also unaware that to many prisoners, PLN is a bible, of sorts. For those locked up, PLN is an authority on current legal information. Inmates count on PLN as an important resource to inform them about criminal justice laws and issues that might affect them. By not allowing PLN, as well as any other type of printed material to enter his domain, DeWitt has incurred the wrath not only of PLN, but also of the U.S. Justice Department, which has stepped in and asked a federal judge in the district to look into the matter.
DeWitt claims that barring everything but the Bible is necessary to run a safe and orderly institution. He obviously doesn’t have a clue about how other facilities manage this without violating rights. PLN and the U.S. government think differently. The Justice Department has called DeWitt’s action a “ violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause,” which bans the government from supporting one religion over another.
Both PLN and the Justice Department want to see to it that inmates are allowed to have several types of reading material beside a religious book. As it stand’s now, PLN and the Justice Department cite the jail’s printed material ban as unconstitutional because prisoners’ First Amendment Rights are being violated.
Reentry Central would like to suggest that subscribers might like to read a related article about a Connecticut legislator’s fight to ban books depicting violence from Connecticut prisons and jails. Please see Should the Connecticut Department of Correction Change Its Prison Library Policy? Reentry Central News section 3/28/11
Source: Christian Science Monitor 4/13/11
|
|
|
|
