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| ACLU Challenges California Prison Internet Ban Policy |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 08/13/2002 |
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Civil liberties lawyers went to federal court on August 9 to challenge a California prison policy that bars inmates from receiving any mail that contains material downloaded from the Internet, including printed e-mail. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Prison Law Office, a California legal assistance organization, argued that the ban is unnecessarily broad and blocks prisoners from a basic method of communication with the outside world. 'This case is important because it represents an irrational response to the Internet that we don't want to see duplicated in other prisons across the country,' said Ann Brick, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. Inmates in California prisons have no direct access to the Internet, and the state's ban on printed Internet material means they cannot receive e-mail or other downloaded information in regular letters. The federal case, brought by an inmate at California's Pelican Bay State Prison, follows a state appeals court decision last year that upheld the ban imposed by the state's Department of Corrections. Corrections Department spokesman Russ Heimrich said the ban on Internet material was intended to stop inmates from using anonymous e-mail to break the law -- either by running illegal enterprises or arranging new crimes from behind bars. 'We made a compelling argument with the court that it threatened the safety and security of the institution...there were also real volume issues in terms of dealing with some of these e-mails,' he said. Heimrich said prison authorities generally distinguish between questionable e-mails and 'regular' Internet information, which he said inmates were allowed to receive. 'If I'm in prison and my relatives wanted to send an e-mail that had the text of the Bible, that is not going to be a problem. What is the problem is correspondence with specific inmates,' he said. But Brick of the ACLU said the policy could be used to block any and all Internet material, potentially shutting inmates off from important information on everything from HIV/AIDS to college financial aid. 'Having a rule that says prisoners can't receive something because its been printed from Internet makes about as much sense as saying all letters to prisoners have to be typed on a manual typewriter,' Brick said. 'If the prison is worried about security, what they need to be focusing on is the content of the mail, not how it's printed.' After hearing arguments from both sides, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken took the matter under submission but did not indicate when she might make a ruling in the case. |
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