Prisons over-censor inmates’ reading content, judge says
Mail clerks in Arizona prisons violated the rights of inmates by blocking access to what they deemed as “sexually explicit material” over the years, a federal judge has ruled.
Banned items included issues of National Geographic, Businessweek and The Economist.
Prison Legal News, a national publication that covers the criminal justice system, filed the lawsuit against the Arizona Department of Corrections in 2015 after the department refused to deliver certain issues to inmates.
It alleged inmates’ First Amendment rights were being violated.
On Wednesday, Judge Roslyn Silver ordered the department to fix its policy in order “to establish bright-line rules that narrowly define” what content is not allowed.
According to a 2017 report by The Arizona Republic, mail clerks use their own discretion when deciding what is against policies. Silver wants the department’s new policy to limit staff’s discretion.
The department must inform mail room staff of best practices and fix their policy within 60 days.
“The department is reviewing the court’s order with its attorneys and will be responding as directed by Judge Silver,” Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux said in a statement.
The department does not allow mail that shows or describes violence or sexual behavior.
Also, publications with sexually explicit material are not allowed. The current policy describes this as material that shows physical contact with a person’s genitals, sadomasochistic abuse, intercourse, masturbation, incest, activity with someone who doesn’t give consent, and activity with a child.
“Defendants’ policies do not contain an exception permitting delivery of
publications that describe sexual acts in a non-salacious way as part of an article
reporting on the facts of a court case or published legal decision,” Prison Legal News stated in the lawsuit.
The court ordered the department to distribute the issues of Prison Legal News that had been censored over the years within 30 days.
Earlier this year, the Arizona Department of Corrections reversed its ban on the book Chokehold after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened the agency with a lawsuit.
The book is a critique of the country’s criminal justice system and the treatment of black men. The department did not tell The Republic why a ban was placed on the book when asked in June.
According to the Prison Legal News lawsuit, the department has taken away copies of Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, National Geographic and Newsweek.
In the past, clerks have confiscated:
❚ I Know Why Caged Bird Sings.
❚ The Life of Dickens.
❚ Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment.
❚ A copy of Teen Vogue.
❚ Certain copies Cosmopolitan.
❚ Certain copies Glamour.
❚ Certain copies of W Magazine.
❚ Certain Maxim.
❚ Certain copies of Esquire.
❚ Certain copies Men’s Fitness.
❚ Certain copies Sports Illustrated.
❚ Multiple Snoop Dogg CDs.
❚ Multiple Nicki Minaj CDs.
Charles copies the of of of of of