Attorney: Ban on Bible Study Material for Inmates Defies Logic and Law
by Allie Martin
March 14, 2005
(AgapePress) - Prison officials have been sued for stopping delivery of Bible study material to inmates. The suit was filed in federal court after officials at a state prison in California allegedly denied prison ministries the right to send -- and inmates the right to receive -- the materials.For years, prison ministries have faithfully sent Bible study materials to inmates at the state prison facility in Corcoran, free of charge, and have witnessed firsthand the life-changing power of the gospel in their lives. Recently, however, prison officials at the facility arbitrarily changed their policies so as to exclude most types of free religious materials.
After the policy change, the prison mail room would no longer deliver Bible study materials to inmates who had requested and were eagerly awaiting them. After numerous appeals received no response, these inmates and a local prison ministry contacted the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a nonprofit legal defense organization, for help.
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Brad Dacus |
PJI president Brad Dacus says the legal group sent demand letters, clearly stating the position that the prison officials' actions were against the law. In fact, PJI contends that the Corcoran prison authorities had violated the First Amendment rights of both the inmates and the ministry. However, the corrections officials did not respond, so the legal group proceeded to take the matter to court."We went ahead and filed a lawsuit in federal court after we weren't able to resolve the matter," Dacus says, "basically seeking protection under both the Constitution as well as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which basically gives rights for ministries to send out Christian material and Bibles, as well as for inmates to be able to be ministered to by these materials."
Although the heads of the state prison claimed the new policy was based on security concerns, PJI's president considered the argument inadequate. "The fact is that these prisons can be like other prisons who take reasonable measures and have different techniques to make sure that drugs and firearms are not smuggled in," he says.
Also, a number of Christian organizations involved in prison outreach have urged PJI to press the lawsuit, testifying to the lasting change that the Bible study materials and other religious literature have helped to effect in the lives of many inmates. "That's why we think it's so important," Dacus points out. "We have been contacted by many ministries who are very encouraging in wanting us to defend the rights of inmates to be able to be ministered to, because it is so important to these ministries."
According to the president of PJI, the prison officials restrictions on the inmates ability to receive such life changing materials not only defies the law, but defies logic as well. He says the legal defense group is looking forward to vindicating the constitutional rights of the inmates as well as those of the hard-working prison ministries that seek to serve them.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
