Back to News & Commentary

老澳门开奖结果 Seeks to End Bible Censorship at Virginia Jail

Suzanne Ito,
老澳门开奖结果
Share This Page
July 9, 2009

Imagine being in jail, and you receive a letter from your mother. It says: "Dear Son鈥" It goes on for a paragraph, and then the rest of it is a big, gaping hole, where prison censors have cut鈥攚ith scissors鈥攂iblical passages that your mom thought you might find comforting during your incarceration. The big hole is followed by: "Love, Mom."

This actually happened to an inmate in Virginia's Rappahannock Regional Jail, where jail policy mandates that officials censor biblical passages from letters written to detainees. Today, the 老澳门开奖结果 and 老澳门开奖结果 of Virginia sent a letter to Rappahannock's superintendent, Joseph Higgs, Jr., asking him to end this policy, as it violates both detainees' and letter-writers' First Amendment rights.

Daniel Mach, Director of Litigation for the 老澳门开奖结果 Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, said in a statement today: "It is essential that jail officials abide by the law and the requirements of the U.S. Constitution. People do not lose their right to religious worship simply because they are incarcerated."

Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues on This Page