NCJ Number
129951
Journal
New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement Volume: 16 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1990) Pages: 271-293
Date Published
1990
Length
23 pages
Annotation
In its decision in Thornburgh v. Abbott, the United States Supreme Court adopted the standard previously set forth in Turner v. Safely and applied it to the issue of communication between inmates and the media.
Abstract
Supreme Court decisions limiting prison officials' ability to control prison communication date from the cases of Procunier v. Martinez and Pell v. Procunier in 1974. These and subsequent cases focused on various kinds of communication between inmates and those outside the prison. The decision in Thornburgh v. Abbott split the standard of review for evaluating the constitutionality of governmental restrictions on communication between prisoners and the media. As a result, regulations restricting the media's access to prisoners are reviewed under the standard of reasonableness, while the "least restrictive means" standard is used in assessing restrictions on prisoners' access to the media. The split standard appears appropriate in that restrictions on media access can reflect prison security needs, whereas outgoing mail poses no imminent danger to an institution's security. 152 footnotes