Current:Home > NewsA federal judge tosses a lawsuit over the ban on recorded inmate interviews in South Carolina -WealthGrow Network
A federal judge tosses a lawsuit over the ban on recorded inmate interviews in South Carolina
View
Date:2025-04-14 01:06:05
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit trying to overturn the South Carolina prison system’s banning on-camera, in-person interviews with inmates or recording their phone calls for broadcast.
The American Civil Liberties Union wanted to air a podcast with a death row inmate and also represents a transgender woman who killed her mother when she was 13, was diagnosed behind bars with gender dysphoria and is suing the state prison system over denial of care.
But in a ruling last week, federal Judge Jacquelyn Austin said the government can restrict free speech rights in areas it controls that aren’t public and the media doesn’t have special rights to access prisoners.
The prison system does allow prisoners and reporters to exchange letters.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections “stands by its longstanding policy, which allows inmates to answer interview questions in writing. We’re grateful the courts recognized and upheld it,” agency spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said in a statement.
The ACLU plans to appeal the judge’s decision to dismiss its lawsuit. The organization said hearing from inmates is especially important as the state plans its first execution in more than 13 years later this month with up to five more to come into spring 2025.
“We continue to believe that South Carolinians deserve to hear what is happening in our prisons, and to hear it from the people experiencing it,” said Allen Chaney, Legal Director of the ACLU of South Carolina.
The policy has been in place for nearly 25 years. Prison officials said it protects victims of crime so the perpetrators don’t get fame and notoriety and keeps prisons safer because inmates can’t send coded messages through interviews.
The ACLU mentioned two inmates in its lawsuit. Sofia Cano, a transgender woman, wants to discuss her lawsuit over denial of care, prison conditions and the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals behind bars.
The other is death row inmate Marion Bowman, convicted of killing a woman in 2001 and burning her body in a car trunk. Bowman’s lawyers argued at trial someone else pulled the trigger.
Bowman wants to tell his story as he prepares to ask the governor for clemency to change his death sentence to life in prison. The state Supreme Court has scheduled Bowman to be the third inmate to die as executions restart, meaning he could be put to death around the end of November or early December.
The Corrections Department does occasionally allow cameras into prisons for stories about specific programs, like inmates recording books for their children or learning job skills. But media outlets must agree to only use first names and not show faces, tattoos or other things that could identify an inmate.
While they can’t go on camera, prison officials said South Carolina inmates can write to anyone, including reporters, and inmates who can’t afford stamps or stationery can get them.
Inmates can also approve reporters to be on their telephone lists as long as their own words aren’t recorded and rebroadcast. The Associated Press interviewed one of two inmates who killed four fellow prisoners in 2017 in this way.
Also mentioned in the ACLU lawsuit was Alex Murdaugh, the former lawyer serving two life sentences for killing his wife and son. Murdaugh got in trouble because his recorded phone call with his lawyer was played as part of a documentary.
Prison officials said while Murdaugh lost privileges and his lawyer was warned that he might lose unmonitored access to phone calls with prisoner clients if he did it again, the media outlet suffered no consequences.
veryGood! (6691)
Related
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Grocery deals, battery disposal and phone speed: These tech tips save you time and cash
- ‘Ash and debris': Journalist covering Maui fires surveys destruction of once-vibrant Hawaii town
- Bodies pile up without burials in Sudan’s capital, marooned by a relentless conflict
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- Caitlin Clark, Iowa teammates seek to pack football stadium for Oct. basketball matchup
- Texas sheriff says 3 hog hunters from Florida died in an underground tank after their dog fell in
- Kenosha police arrested a Black man at Applebee’s. The actual suspects were in the bathroom
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Gal Gadot enjoys 'messy' superspy life and being an Evil Queen: 'It was really juicy'
Ranking
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- From 'Straight Outta Compton' to '8 Mile': Essential hip-hop movies to celebrate 50 years
- Trading Titan: The Rise of Mark Williams in the Financial World
- John Anderson: The Rise of a Wealth Architect
- Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
- Federal judge will hear arguments on potential takeover of New York City’s troubled jail system
- Another Threshold candle recall? Target recalls 2.2 million products over burn and laceration risks
- China accuses US of trying to block its development and demands that technology curbs be repealed
Recommendation
Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
Teen Social Media Star Lil Tay Confirms She's Alive And Not Dead After Hoax
41 reportedly dead after migrant boat capsizes off Italian island
UPS says drivers to make $170,000 in pay and benefits following union deal
Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
Phil Mickelson has wagered more than $1 billion, according to book by renowned gambler Billy Walters
Coach parent Tapestry and Versace owner Capri fashion a $8.5 billion merger
The Challenge Fans Will Love This Gift Guide as Much as T.J. Lavin Hates Quitters