Thread: Montana defends curbs on prison inmate mail

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Attorneys for Montana's prison system on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union claiming the state illegally imposed an "English-only" policy on inmates' mail.

In a complaint filed June 30 in U.S. District Court in Helena, Montana, the ACLU said the state Corrections Department violated constitutional rights to free expression and equal protection under the law by confiscating letters in Spanish to a foreign-born inmate.

The case centers on William Diaz-Wassmer, 26, a Guatemalan national sentenced in 2007 to life in state prison after being convicted of murder, robbery and arson in the 2006 shooting death of an elderly woman, according to legal documents and corrections records.

In May 2010, Montana corrections officers stopped delivering letters to Diaz-Wassmer from family members who wrote in Spanish, citing security concerns. They argued that restrictions on inmate correspondence prohibit letters written in "code or foreign language not understood" by corrections staff who monitor prison mail, court filings show.

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http://news.yahoo.com/montana-defend...012720333.html

I'm sure the Guatemalan prisons are SO much nicer...send him there, or string him up. Either way, he doesn't belong here.