Authorities Seek to Restrict Prisoner’s Communication Rights

A new proposal from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is aiming to limit contact of suspected prisoner terrorists with the outside world. If passed, the new measures would restrict all methods of communication such as letters, phone calls and visitors for prisoners with a supposed link to terrorism.

The new restrictions also may completely block all communication with the media, limiting contact to family, legal advisors and government officials only.

While representatives from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons believe this is a much needed safety measure, human rights activists disagree considering it a flagrant violation of the First Amendment.

“This is just using the boogie man of terrorism to silence prisoners and further seal the workings of a government from public scrutiny,” commented David Fahti, a senior attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Traci Billingsley of the Bureau of Prisons believes however, that the security measure is a necessary step of many changes made following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Prison officials are concerned about inmates utilizing coded messages, a common practice noted in the al-Qaida training manual, to “communicate with brothers outside prison and exchange information that may be helpful to them.”

Past incidents of terrorist prisoner organization from behind the walls has prompted authorities attempts to intensify current regulations.

The proposal was initially introduced after the discovery of a terrorist plot in a Southern California prison among four terrorists who were targeting California military bases and other places in Los Angeles.

Current federal prison regulations allow authorities to impose restrictions on terrorist prisoners with the approval of the U.S. attorney general. The proposed regulations would make such restrictions substantially easier to inflict.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will come to a final ruling on the issue in June.