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No Free Speech Protection for Prisoners Who Copy Excerpts from Books

Prisoners who copy “arguably inflammatory” or “incendiary” passages from the books they check out from a prison library or are allowed to purchase are not entitled to rely on the First Amendment to protect them from disciplinary punishment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held on August 2, 2012. In dismissing Wisconsin

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The First Amendment in Twenty-First Century American Corrections

The other day a friend asked me a question.  The question was, “What does the future of the battle for prisoners’ rights look like?”  To this, I responded that the battleground will most likely revolve around the First Amendment; that we, as prisoner rights advocates, would have to fight for the staples of the freedom

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Reducing Liability When Speaking With Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Personnel

Inmates incarcerated within the Federal Bureau of Prisons simply need to remain silent when talking to prison personnel.  I know this is a basic concept from an attorney’s perspective, but it is often forgotten by incarcerated clients.  As such, attorneys, and other defense specialists, should make a point of reminding their incarcerated clients of this

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Prisoners’ Right to Religious Freedom

The First Amendment protects “the free exercise” of religion, and this right extends to those in prisons and jails.  This has been established by the courts, see Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319, 322 (1972)(Buddhist prisoner has right to practice faith in prison), and by federal statutes. E.g., 42 U.S.C. sect; 2000cc et seq. (Religious

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The Right to Write: Publishing From Prison

Since the formation of our nation, Americans have enjoyed a right to Free Speech that is unrivaled among modern nations.  The right has long survived incarceration as well, from the 1800s Henry David Thoreau’s “On Civil Disobedience” to the Letters from Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of

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