SC Bill Targets Prisoners On Facebook
Bill Would Add To Sentence If Inmate Is Caught Updating From Cell Phone
MEG KINNARD, Associated Press
POSTED: 12:01 pm EDT March 20, 2011
UPDATED: 1:19 pm EDT March 20, 2011
The proliferation of cell phones smuggled into prisons has some inmates routinely updating their status from the inside, and South Carolina is considering becoming the first state to make that a crime. The measure would add 30 days to a prisoner's sentence if he is caught interacting on social networking sites via cell phone. The bill goes a step further, too, making it illegal for anyone to set up a page for a prisoner, which legal experts say violates inmates' free speech rights even if they are using contraband cell phones. Rep. Wendell Gilliard, a Democrat from Charleston who proposed the law, says crime victims shouldn't have to worry about seeing or being threatened by a prisoner online. There's also a fear convicts are coordinating criminal activity.
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