Restricted Reading: South Carolina Jail Bans All Books Except for the Bible

[babylonsister]

Restricted Reading: South Carolina Jail Bans All Books Except for the Bible
By: Alexandra Silver


If you're a criminal who likes to read — and/or religious, but not Christian — then the last place you want to be jailed in is Moncks Corner, South Carolina.

According to legal complaints, the only book, good or otherwise, that inmates at the Berkeley County Detention Center can readily get their hands on is the Bible. Granted, it's a bestseller, and there's a lot in those pages to keep one occupied and even entertained — mind-bending seven-day creation of the universe, violence, sex, walking on water, resurrection, etc. — but sometimes you just want to read an Agatha Christie mystery. Or, if you're Jewish, the Torah, in a copy without the extra testament. Of particular interest to prisoners just might be reading material on prisoners' rights.

The U.S. Department of Justice, brandishing its own sacred text — the U.S. Constitution — has filed a complaint against the sheriff's office that runs the alleged book-barring jail. It's moving to join a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union last October. The ACLU suit was filed on behalf of Prison Legal News, whose publications, the suit alleges, have been turned away from the jail since 2008. The AP quotes an email, sent to PLN publishers, from jail official First Sgt. K. Habersham: “Our inmates are only allowed to receive soft back bibles in the mail directly from the publisher…. They are not allowed to have magazines, newspapers, or any other type of books.”

more...

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/14/restricted-reading-south-carolina-jail-bans-all-books-except-for-the-bible/

[dhill926]

1. not The Onion.....sheesh....n/t

[hobbit709]

2. Teabaggers, birthers and religious zealots.

Hard to tell which is slower on the uptake.

And when you combine these traits into one-look out for the stupid.

"Jesus, save me from your idiot followers"

[niyad]

3. I am so sick of these damned fundies thinking they have the right to control other people's reading,

or any other form of behaviour. the sheriff should be fired immediately, and, here is an idea--sent to a place where only pagan and humanist materials are to be had.

[CrispyQ]

13. I am sick of them too.

It almost makes this non-believer wish the rapture would happen so I could see the looks on their faces when they realize they've been 'left behind' with the likes of me. :evilgrin:

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. So, Afghanistan Taliban, we use drones.

American Taliban, that is different.
Did I get that right?

[niyad]

5. yes, you did

[sasha031]

6. banned books except the bible, now that's torture

[Generic Other]

7. I would decorate my Bible and create word collages

Bible Porn.

[Control-Z]

8. I'm not sure I could handle it.

I read so much - and never the bible. It would be cruel and unusual torture for me.

[rfranklin]

9. I would wipe my ass with the Bible...nt

[malaise]

10. WTF??????????

America is having a major nervous breakdown - the lunatics are in charge

[dimbear]

11. These guys don't realize the Bible has several jailbreaks in it.

Never having opened it themselves.

[Habibi]

12. Heh. One could imagine

a bible-reading group that would focus on all the radical stuff in it. Bet it would be taken away asap.