Press Release

FROM CITIZENS UNITED FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE DEATH PENALTY (CUADP)

For Immediate Release: 16 December 2002

CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz
800-973-6548
abe@cuadp.org

JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF CUADP IN LAWSUIT AGAINST ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Jupiter, FL - Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP) is one of three plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in July against the Arizona Department of Corrections by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a constitutional challenge to a new Arizona law which punishes Arizona prisoners whose case information appears on the internet. Today, a federal judge today halted enforcement of an Arizona law that bans communication between prisoners and organizations that may publish information about them on their web sites.

"Prisoners should not be punished for making public their claims of innocence," said Abe Bonowitz, director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "Today's decision is a tremendous victory for civil liberties and freedom of speech. And it's not just about prisoners. This benefits everyone."

See CUADP's original press release at www.cuadp.org/pressrel41.html.

See today's ACLU Press Release Below.

paz!

--abe

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Judge Orders Halt to Arizona Law that Censored Anti-Death Penalty Web Sites

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, December 16, 2002

CONTACT: Eleanor Eisenberg, ACLU of AZ (602) 650-1967 Kara Gotsch, Nat'l Prison Project (202) 393-4930

PHOENIX - Citing fears of "irreparable harm" to the First Amendment, a federal judge today halted enforcement of an Arizona law that bars all information about state prisoners from the global Internet and bans communication between prisoners and organizations that may publish information about them on their web sites.

"Arizona's attempt to censor Internet content was a frightening step toward government repression of free speech," said Eleanor Eisenberg, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which along with the ACLU's National Prison Project had challenged the law. "Today's court order puts a timely and immediate stop to this ill-conceived law."

Acting on behalf of anti-death penalty and other advocacy groups, the ACLU filed the lawsuit, Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty v. Terry L. Stewart, in federal district court in July seeking to invalidate the speech ban. Under the law, prisoners were barred from corresponding with a "communication service provider" or "remote computing service" and faced discipline if any person outside prison walls accessed a provider or service website at a prisoner's request.

Today's decision blocks Department of Corrections officials from continuing to punish prisoners found in violation of the law. According to recent reports, corrections officials had demanded that prisoners have their names and case information removed from advocacy web sites or face prison discipline and possible criminal prosecution. Ironically, prisoners would have been in violation of the statute by communicating with a service provider or website when requesting to have their information removed.

"Putting free speech behind bars simply because it concerns prisoners sets a dangerous precedent," said David C. Fathi, staff counsel with the ACLU's National Prison Project and co-counsel on the suit. "Today's decision makes clear that Arizona may not jail the Internet."

The ACLU's organizational clients are the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty, which has information about 45 Arizona prisoners on its website; Stop Prisoner Rape, a group that seeks to end sexual violence against individuals in detention; and Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a group that organizes public education campaigns with the intention of abolishing the death penalty. All of the ACLU's clients maintain websites with prisoner information.

Today's ruling marks the second time in recent months that a court has rejected attempts by state prison officials to restrict prisoner speech online. In September, a U.S. district court judge in California ruled that prisoners have a First Amendment right to receive mail that contains material printed from the Internet. The ACLU of Northern California and the Prison Law Office brought that case, Clement v. California Department of Corrections, on behalf of Pelican Bay prisoner Frank Clement.

Fathi of the ACLU's National Prison Project, Ann Beeson of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program and Alice Bendheim and Pamela K. Sutherland of the ACLU of Arizona are all serving as co-counsel in the Arizona case.

The ACLU legal complaint is online at www.aclu.org/court/stewart.pdf

The ACLU's letter to the Arizona Department of Corrections is online at www.aclu.org/news/2002/stewart_letter.pdf

ACLU client websites:
Stop Prisoner Rape: www.spr.org
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: www.cuadp.org
The Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty: www.ccadp.org

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SENT BY:
 
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director, CUADP

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