Even "Supermax" Prison is in
America's Free-Speech Zone;
Judge Rules Inmate Can Write
For Magazines, Web Sites
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Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007
The First Amendment is still the law of the land, even in America's most secure prison, a federal judge ruled.
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U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger made the ruling Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007, in the case of an inmate at the U.S. Administrative Maximum prison, aka "Supermax," where such notorious inmates such as "Unabomber" Theodore John Kacynski, failed shoe bomber Richard Reid, and 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui are incarcerated.
Krieger ruled inmate Mark Jordan can act as a reporter inside the prison and write articles for publication. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons rules had prohibited inmates from authoring a byline article or acting as a reporter, according to federal court records.
Prison officials had testified that banning inmates from becoming reporters was necessary to keep them from becoming too influential with other prisoners. How that could be accomplished in a prison where the inmates are in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day was not explained.
Jordan, 31, is a convicted bank robber and murderer. He also likes to write. He sent several essays to various publications and a magazine called Off! published two of his essays. Off! is a publication of Off Campus College at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
The first article was titled "The Social Bonds of the Have-Nots" and was published in the Spring of 2001, according to federal court records. Prison guards intercepted a copy of the magazine when it was mailed to Jordan at the prison, located in Florence, Colorado, which is a small town southwest of Colorado Springs.
Prison officials saw Jordan's byline. During a disciplinary hearing a prison official told Jordan it would be a good idea if Jordan wrote other articles using a pseudonym, then prohibited Jordan from visiting the prison commissary for 30 days, according to the court records.
Jordan then wrote an article about the dangers of DNA databases for Off! magazine under the pen name "Josef Shevitz." Prison officials found out and punished Jordan a second time, restricting access to the commissary and forbidding Jordan from watching TV or listening to the radio.
Jordan sued, acting as his own attorney. Then three University of Denver law school students took on Jordan's case. It went to trial and students Donald Bounds, Jack Hobaugh and Michelle Young won, according to an Associated Press story about the case.
The Denver Post quoted Jordan as saying: "The restriction of constitutional rights starts in prison. Then it spreads out from there."
