April 4, 2010
Judge: La. inmate has right to religious newspaper
By The Associated Press 04.01.10
U.S. District Judge Donald Walter in Shreveport ordered the David Wade Correctional Center to deliver future issues of the newspaper to Henry Leonard, an inmate who claims the Homer prison violated his right to free exercise of religion.
Prison officials said they restricted Leonard's access to the newspaper because of security concerns about articles they found to be racially discriminatory.
Walter, however, expressed concern that completely banning the newspaper was an exaggerated response to security concerns. The judge said prison officials couldn't cite any instances in which violence or unrest could be attributed to The Final Call.
"The wholesale prohibition of the publication is simply too broad when balanced with the plaintiff's right to the free exercise of his religion," Walter wrote in his 21-page ruling in Leonard v. State of Louisiana.
The judge said prison officials could restrict inmates' access to the newspaper if they can show that the publication has incited violence or "ever develops a substantially inflammatory effect on the inmates."
"Such actions would be rationally related to the penological objective of preventing security threats to the inmates, staff and the facility," Walter wrote.
Pam Laborde, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said the department "strongly encourages religious participation."
"The Department's objection to the publication has always been about the racially inflammatory and divisive speech contained therein," she said in a statement. "The distribution of a publication ... that directly promotes segregation and other potentially disruptive beliefs could very reasonably spur violence within a correctional setting."
Laborde said officials would review the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.
Leonard is a former Baton Rouge police officer who was convicted of murdering his estranged wife's boyfriend. The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana backed his lawsuit, filed in May 2007.
ACLU attorney Katie Schwartzmann said Leonard hadn't had access to the newspaper in three years.
"There was nothing the state could point to as justification for banning it, other than its disagreement with the political or religious messages contained in the publication. And that's a very dangerous thing," she said.
The ACLU filed a similar case in February 2009 on behalf of an inmate at a state prison in Angola, La., who says he also has been denied access to The Final Call.
Posted by The Watchdog
April 2. 2010
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
