Current:Home > ScamsA federal judge tosses a lawsuit over the ban on recorded inmate interviews in South Carolina -EquityExchange
A federal judge tosses a lawsuit over the ban on recorded inmate interviews in South Carolina
View
Date:2025-04-16 03:06:05
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! (7549)
Related
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- The Rolling Stones setlist: Here are all the songs on their Hackney Diamonds Tour
- First-ever psychological autopsy in a criminal case in Kansas used to determine mindset of fatal shooting victim
- Veterinary care, animal hospitals are more scarce. That's bad for pets (and their owners)
- Trump's 'stop
- Tornadoes leave a trail of destruction in Oklahoma, communities begin to assess damage
- Candace Parker, a 3-time WNBA champion and 2-time Olympic gold medalist, announces retirement
- Upstate NY district attorney ‘so sorry’ for cursing at officer who tried to ticket her for speeding
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Clayton MacRae: When will the Fed cuts Again
Ranking
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- How Dance Moms' Chloé Lukasiak Really Felt Being Pitted Against Maddie Ziegler
- More than a dozen military families in Hawaii spark trial over 2021 jet fuel leak that tainted water
- 3 police officers, 2 civilians shot in standoff at Louisiana home; suspect killed
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Bernhard Langer, 66, set to return to PGA Tour 3 months after tearing Achilles
- Candace Parker, a 3-time WNBA champion and 2-time Olympic gold medalist, announces retirement
- 3 police officers, 2 civilians shot in standoff at Louisiana home; suspect killed
Recommendation
Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
The Rolling Stones show no signs of slowing down as they begin their latest tour with Texas show
Are weighted sleep products safe for babies? Lawmaker questions companies, stores pull sales
Spain’s Prime Minister Sánchez says he’ll continue in office after days of reflection
Bodycam footage shows high
Amelia Gray Hamlin Frees the Nipple in Her Most Modest Look to Date
Thunder's Mark Daigneault wins NBA Coach of the Year after leading OKC to top seed in West
Clayton MacRae: Fed Rates Cut at least 3 more Times