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Suit Challenges Jail's Policy Allowing Inmates To Receive Bibles But No Other Publications

By Howard M. Friedman

The ACLU announced yesterday that it has filed a federal lawsuit in South Carolina challenging the policy at the Berkeley County (SC) Detention Center which bars sending of any books, magazines or newspapers to inmates, except for copies of the Bible.  The complaint (full text) in Prison Legal News v. Berkeley County Sheriff H. Wayne Dewitt, (D SC, filed 10/6/2010), alleges that the censorship policy, which includes barring letters sent by magazine publishers, infringes the right of the publisher of a  monthly journal on prison law to communicate with detainees. The suit also claims that the policy violates the Establishment Clause because allowing Bibles, but no other books, to be sent discriminates on the basis of religion. AP reports on the lawsuit.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on October 07, 2010 (boomark / email).