Tell South Carolina to Stop Putting Inmates in Solitary Confinement for Using Facebook!
- by: Julie Mastrine
- recipient: Bryan P. Stirling, Agency Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections
The prison system in South Carolina sets accessing Facebook as an offense on par with murder, rape, rioting, escape and hostage-taking.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) found that during the last 3 years, prison officials have brought over 400 disciplinary cases for “social networking," which almost always means using Facebook.
The penalties for inmates are unnecessarily harsh, and include solitary confinement or deprivation of privileges like visitation from friends and family and phone access. In 16 cases, inmates were sentenced to over 10 YEARS in "disciplinary detention." The average punishment was 512 days in detention. Forty inmates received over 2 years in solitary confinement; at least one inmate was sentenced to over 37 years in isolation.
Cutting inmates off from family and friends does not help to rehabilitate them. It dehumanizes them. Inmates are people, and we must show them compassion if we hope to discourage them from committing crimes in the future. This type of punishment is a violation of the 8th Amendment. In the words of a prison official championing a humane prison system in Norway,"If we treat people like animals when they are in prison they are likely to behave like animals."
Please sign the petition to ask the South Carolina Department of Corrections to stop putting inmates in solitary confinement simply for using Facebook -- remove "Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site” as a Level 1 offense!
EFF states: "The sentences are so long because SCDC issues a separate Level 1 violation for each day that an inmate accesses a social network. An inmate who posts five status updates over five days, would receive five separate Level 1 violations, while an inmate who posted 100 updates in one day would receive only one. In other words, if a South Carolina inmate caused a riot, took three hostages, murdered them, stole their clothes, and then escaped, he could still wind up with fewer Level 1 offenses than an inmate who updated Facebook every day for two weeks."
I also urge everyone to read in totality the severity of SCDC's policies regarding this issue, which also include censorship and preventing inmates' families from accessing the Internet for them, like to handle finances, organizing legal defense campaigns, etc. SCDC has violated Facebook's Terms of Service by fishing for inmates' passwords and creating fake profiles to catch inmates in the act. Facebook is also complicit in this practice -- it has procedsed hundreds of requests from SCDC officers who want inmates’ profiles taken down, and Facebook complies.
Please sign the petition to ask the South Carolina Department of Corrections to stop putting inmates in solitary confinement simply for using Facebook -- remove "Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site” as a Level 1 offense!
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) found that during the last 3 years, prison officials have brought over 400 disciplinary cases for “social networking," which almost always means using Facebook.
The penalties for inmates are unnecessarily harsh, and include solitary confinement or deprivation of privileges like visitation from friends and family and phone access. In 16 cases, inmates were sentenced to over 10 YEARS in "disciplinary detention." The average punishment was 512 days in detention. Forty inmates received over 2 years in solitary confinement; at least one inmate was sentenced to over 37 years in isolation.
Cutting inmates off from family and friends does not help to rehabilitate them. It dehumanizes them. Inmates are people, and we must show them compassion if we hope to discourage them from committing crimes in the future. This type of punishment is a violation of the 8th Amendment. In the words of a prison official championing a humane prison system in Norway,"If we treat people like animals when they are in prison they are likely to behave like animals."
Please sign the petition to ask the South Carolina Department of Corrections to stop putting inmates in solitary confinement simply for using Facebook -- remove "Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site” as a Level 1 offense!
EFF states: "The sentences are so long because SCDC issues a separate Level 1 violation for each day that an inmate accesses a social network. An inmate who posts five status updates over five days, would receive five separate Level 1 violations, while an inmate who posted 100 updates in one day would receive only one. In other words, if a South Carolina inmate caused a riot, took three hostages, murdered them, stole their clothes, and then escaped, he could still wind up with fewer Level 1 offenses than an inmate who updated Facebook every day for two weeks."
I also urge everyone to read in totality the severity of SCDC's policies regarding this issue, which also include censorship and preventing inmates' families from accessing the Internet for them, like to handle finances, organizing legal defense campaigns, etc. SCDC has violated Facebook's Terms of Service by fishing for inmates' passwords and creating fake profiles to catch inmates in the act. Facebook is also complicit in this practice -- it has procedsed hundreds of requests from SCDC officers who want inmates’ profiles taken down, and Facebook complies.
Please sign the petition to ask the South Carolina Department of Corrections to stop putting inmates in solitary confinement simply for using Facebook -- remove "Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site” as a Level 1 offense!
Mr. Stirling,
We the undersigned urge you to remove "Creating and/or Assisting With a Social Networking Site" as a Level 1 offense for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
A Freedom of Information Act request revealed your system has placed inmates in solitary confinement and revoked their prilgies, like visitation rights and telephone access, simply for using Facebook. In 16 cases, your system has sentenced inmates to over 10 YEARS in "disciplinary detention." The average punishment is 512 days in detention. Forty inmates have received over 2 years in solitary confinement; at least one inmate was sentenced to over 37 years in isolation. This type of punishment is a violation of the 8th Amendment.
We believe this is an inhumane way to treat inmates, who are human beings. We must show inmates compassion if we hope to discourage them from committing crimes in the future. In the words of a prison official championing a humane prison system in Norway,"If we treat people like animals when they are in prison they are likely to behave like animals."
Please remove "Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site” as a Level 1 offense.
Thank you.
Sign PetitionSign PetitionWe the undersigned urge you to remove "Creating and/or Assisting With a Social Networking Site" as a Level 1 offense for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
A Freedom of Information Act request revealed your system has placed inmates in solitary confinement and revoked their prilgies, like visitation rights and telephone access, simply for using Facebook. In 16 cases, your system has sentenced inmates to over 10 YEARS in "disciplinary detention." The average punishment is 512 days in detention. Forty inmates have received over 2 years in solitary confinement; at least one inmate was sentenced to over 37 years in isolation. This type of punishment is a violation of the 8th Amendment.
We believe this is an inhumane way to treat inmates, who are human beings. We must show inmates compassion if we hope to discourage them from committing crimes in the future. In the words of a prison official championing a humane prison system in Norway,"If we treat people like animals when they are in prison they are likely to behave like animals."
Please remove "Creating and/or Assisting With A Social Networking Site” as a Level 1 offense.
Thank you.
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