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RICHMOND
A federal judge has declared the Virginia prison system's policy on inmates' access to literature unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge James Turk in Roanoke ruled in favor of inmate William Couch, who was denied access to the books "Ulysses" and "Lady Chatterly's Lover." Prison officials cited a policy that gives them broad authority to deny access to sexually explicit reading material.
Turk said in an opinion Wednesday that there is no logical connection between the ban and the state's interests in inmate rehabilitation and maintaining order. The decision was first reported by The Roanoke Times.
Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor declined to comment.
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Yea, cause there's lots of
Yea, cause there's lots of jobs waiting for them on the outside breaking rocks and picking up trash? Get a clue people. Ask yourselves why America has a larger percentage of its people behind bars than China. China! Home of the evil communists...China! Are Americans more evil at heart? Ask yourselves why 1 in 100 Americans are behind bars. Because there's money to be made on it, pure and simple. Folks are willing to put their tax money towards private companies locking away pot smokers and petty thieves. Meanwhile the prisons are so full murderers get out early and the folks on wallstreet that bankrupt the nation never serve a day.
With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/28/ST2008022803016.html
Book Reading
Well, lets see, after a hard day of work, cutting bushes or picking up trash on the highways of Virginia, the inmate goes back to his air conditioned prison, goes out to rec and play ball or lift weights or stays inside to watch his personal television using the satelite system that has been provided and eating food he bought through the commissary, heats his food up in a microwave provided by the state, gets ice for his drinks provided by a ice machine bought by the state. but WAIT, what happened to PUNISHMENT FOR CRIMES committed by these FELONS. They have it better than 90% of the people that are not in prison. And this idiot sues the state because he can't have a couple of books they feel is not appropiate for inmates. The next thing they will sue the state to get magazines in so they can order knives or tasers to use on staff. Oh, thats right they make their own knives, called "shanks" in prison. When did inmates get the right to say what they can read. Let this federal judge work a prison like Buckingham or Red Onion for a month as a correctional officer, he would change his mind if he had one.
When done breaking big rocks
When done breaking big rocks into small rocks they would be too tired to read.
Common Sense Prevails!
Kudos to Judge Turk for doing the right thing by ignoring those who wish to propagate illogical and hateful actions. How can literature be hurtful to anyone? Taking away the freedom to choose what to read is just plain nuts.
The Justice system in this
The Justice system in this country is irretrievably broken.
Well....
You want to read what you want to read? Don't get arrested and go to prison. How about putting them to work on road repair?
Virginia, Land of The Oppressed 1800 Laws!
In America, the "land of the free" but over 2 million and growing by leaps and bounds, this is a very important decsion for those incarcerated, who have no one speaking on their behalf, and are literally prisoners to two systems. 1) They are governed and regulated by either the state or government 2) They are again penalized by the Warden of the istitution at which they are being held, who have far too much power over them, and that power is frequently, as admitted by this article, as abusive with no rhyme or reason, which should be a crime, as no law exists many times to enforce this senseless power.
The ignorant and uninformed response to this article, is exactly why this problem exixts in America. "Do the crime, do the time" is easy to blurb on, but what if it was your son, on your daughter? Would you want someon denying them the right to read something of their choice? Prison is a tough place to be, and they pay for their crimes every day, over and over, just trying to stay alive in an environment that is not fit for animals!
For some reason, most people have to be walking the walk, before they get it! As long as it's happening to someone else, they can close their ey
I take it
someone has been to prison and didn't like it. Too bad, boo hoo, take a pill, whatever but if one doesn't want to be controlled by 'the man' then keep ones nose clean. It really is quite simple. Geeeesh, jailhouse cry babies having a say, now that is a laugh.
ulysses
I've read Ulysses. It's only explicit if you're a masochist.
Would the
inmate consider it unconstitutional for the prison to not provide spa services while he is reading his dirty books? This is a classic case of a judge letting an inmate run the prison. Jail is supposed to be jail I beleive.