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| Arizona Prison Ban Struck Down |
| By United Press International |
| Published: 05/30/2003 |
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Prisoner-rights groups are closely watching a proposed rule in Florida that would bar inmates from 'advertising' for pen pals and other outside contacts after last week winning a major federal court ruling in Arizona that struck a law barring inmates from letting information appear on the Internet, advocacy officials said. Tracy Lamourie, a director of the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty, said if Florida adopts the rules, proposed earlier this year, her group and others might consider another legal challenge. The proposed Florida rule would become part of prison regulations and would bar prisoners from advertising for anything. 'Inmates who post ads or have ads posted with the assistance of another person shall be subject to disciplinary action,' the Florida regulation says. The Arizona ruling and actions in other states underscore the power of the Internet both as a tool for social advocacy groups and a place where critics say prison inmates can make improper contacts and endanger the public. U.S. District Judge Earl H. Carroll, sitting in Phoenix, ruled May 17 that when Arizona moved to bar prison inmates from directly or indirectly providing information for the Internet it violated not only the prisoner's First Amendment rights, but also the rights of advocacy groups who set up Web pages. Under pressure from the widow of a murder victim, the Arizona legislature passed a law in 2000, House Bill 2376, which forbade prisoners from communicating with any organization that had a Web site and from allowing their names and material about them to be displayed on the Internet, even if they had no control over its use. The widow, Stardust Johnson, noticed in 1999 that the man who is serving a life Johnson and other witnesses told the committee that access to these Web pages made it possible for inmates to stalk former victims, carry out fraudulent activity, and make improper contacts with children and other unsuspecting people. Inmates in Arizona prisons did not have direct access to the Internet, but communicated with Internet providers by sending a letter. Under Johnson's prodding and the pressure of prison officials, the legislature passed a law that said 'an inmate shall not receive mail from a communication service or service provider or remote computing service.' In addition to paid providers, prison-rights advocacy groups such as the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and Stop Prisoner Rape use the Internet to press social issues. Shortly after the Arizona law was passed, prison authorities passed a regulation that even if prisoners did not purposefully lend their names and case details for a Web page, they could face punishment within the prison and possible criminal charges. The prisoners were told it was their responsibility to have their names removed from the Internet though the regulations prohibited their getting in touch with the providers. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in July 2002 charging that the law's purpose was to 'suppress the flow of information from prisoners to the outside world, and to chill the advocacy of plaintiffs and other anti-death penalty and prisoner-rights organizations.' |
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