Loss of Privacy

Despite the fact that such a move is unconstitutional, the Berkeley County Detention Center in Moncks Corner, South Carolina has banned all books and magazines for prisoners, except for the bible. The ACLU is now suing the jail on behalf of Prison Legal News, who have been attempting for some time to send materials to prisoners.

“Our inmates are only allowed to receive soft back bibles in the mail directly from the publisher,” First Sgt. K. Habersham noted in the e-mail. “They are not allowed to have magazines, newspapers, or any other type of books.”

ACLU staff attorney David Shapiro said the policy effectively bans prisoners from all books and violates a number of the magazine’s and inmates’ constitutional rights.

“The first [right it violates] is the right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment, which carries with it the right to receive materials and read,” he said, adding that the policy also discriminates on the basis of religion.

The actions of the sheriff and the detention center violate the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment. They are forcing a single type of religion on prisoners and denying anything and everything else.

There is no library at the Berkeley County Detention Center, meaning that some prisoners who are incarcerated for extended periods of time have been deprived of all access to magazines, newspapers and books – other than the Bible – for months or even years on end. There is also no process through which the unconstitutional policy can be challenged.

“The Berkeley County Detention Center is totally out of step with most other jails around the country that recognize not just that censorship of this sort is clearly unconstitutional but that providing prisoners with access to books and periodicals is an important lifeline to the outside world,” said Victoria Middleton, Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina. “We should do as much as possible to aid prisoners’ successful transition back into society, not impede it.”

Shutting people out from the outside world and blatant censorship such as this should never be allowed. The ACLU and Prison Legal News should easily win this case.

The entire freshman class at Carvers Bay High School in South Carolina has been enrolled in JROTC classes. The principal, who happens to also be a retired Navy man, says that the Marine JROTC fulfills the physical education requirement at the Freshman Academy.

But Charles Holloway, the parent of a freshman student at Carvers Bay, said he did not want his son in that program and when he asked that his son be taken out, his son was put in a class by himself.Holloway said he feels his son was being punished for not wanting to take part in that class.

Holloway said the JROTC class simply showed up on his son’s schedule in place of gym class and he did not receive any information about the class or how to get his son out of it.

According to the South Carolina Department of Education, high school students must take at least one credit of physical education in order to graduate. ROTC can also fill that requirement.

While it’s fine to allow ROTC to fulfill the P.E. requirement, making it mandatory is not necessary. There are many students and parents who object to forced military classes and presumed recruitment.

Neal said he initiated the program because studies show that students in leadership programs are more likely to stay in school and graduate. He said so far the program has had an “extremely high positive response,” but “any parent who did not want their son or daughter [to participate] has the opportunity to participate in other elective classes.”

If this were true, then why did he require students to enroll in the classes to begin with. Why not inform them of their choices and let the students and their parents decide whether to take ROTC or regular P.E. classes?

Neal said letters and fliers about Ninth Grade Academy were sent to parents. The class is an elective and students had the option to select other programs as well, he said, but noted that the ninth grade class was “enrolled” in the program.

You can’t have it both ways. It’s either an elective or it’s not. You can’t claim that the class is optional when you’ve forced an entire class of students to enroll in ROTC. This case is similar to many privacy issues found on the internet. The individual finds themselves in a situation where they must take the action and opt-out of what is unwanted. In the mean time, students might feel peer pressure to stay in the ROTC program so that they aren’t ostracized by those who choose to stay in. given the fact that the principal is a former military man, students may also feel as if they must stay in ROTC or face punishment later from the principal who is a huge authority figure in a school.

Adding students to an ROTC program without properly informing parents is irresponsible and bordering on criminal. The US military is a volunteer force. There is no valid reason to make students feel like they have to enroll in a pre-military program.

While many people are comparing this to beginnings of the Hitler Youth movement, and there are similarities, there is also concern as to whether such a move by the principal is even legal. Until there is legal action, every freshman should challenge this action and return to regular P.E. instead.

If you’re planning on overthrowing the government and live in South Carolina, you’re now required to register as a subversive, informing officials of your intentions. You are also required to pay a $5 filing fee and fill out a form [pdf] . Failure to do so could result in a $25,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.

The state’s “Subversive Activities Registration Act,” passed last year and now officially on the books, states that “every member of a subversive organization, or an organization subject to foreign control, every foreign agent and every person who advocates, teaches, advises or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States … shall register with the Secretary of State.”

By “subversive organization,” the law means “every corporation, society, association, camp, group, bund, political party, assembly, body or organization, composed of two or more persons, which directly or indirectly advocates, advises, teaches or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States [or] of this State.”

Officials claim that the law is aimed at Islamic terrorists, but is, naturally, broadly written so as to encompass nearly anyone that could be classified as subversive.

How many tea-baggers and Glenn Beck followers are going to register? They have been calling for the overthrow of the government for the past year.

Apparently, we have not learned from that little incident in Germany 60 years ago. South Carolina has also forgotten that the United States of America was founded by subversives who overthrew the government in power. I guess we should all register.