The ACLU of South Carolina is Suing To Publish Interviews With a Death Row Inmate
A federal appeals court will soon decide if there is a First Amendment right to interview people in prison in the case of a South Carolina death row inmate with weeks left to live.
The American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina (ACLU-SC) is fighting a lawsuit on fast-tracked appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit seeking to overturn a state policy that bars it from recording and publishing a face-to-face interview with Marion Bowman, who is scheduled to be executed on November 29. Bowman was convicted of murder in 2001.
In its appeal, the ACLU-SC says it intends to publish interviews with Bowman to support his clemency petition. The group says it is not simply a matter of right of access—it already has access to phone and face-to-face interviews with Bowman—but that the interview ban infringes on its First Amendment right to publicly advocate for its clients.
“By prohibiting ACLU-SC from publishing its incarcerated clients’ speech, the policy restricts its right to speak on matters of importance,” the ACLU-SC writes in an October 4 brief to the 4th Circuit.
The ACLU of South Carolina first filed a federal complaint in February challenging the South Carolina Department of Corrections’ (SCDC) policy banning anyone—reporters, lawyers, advocacy groups, or family members—from recording and publishing an interview with an inmate. While other states and the federal prison system restrict interviews and generally stonewall media, the ACLU-SC says South Carolina is the only state that categorically bans publishing recorded interviews.
The SCDC has argued that its policy is necessary to protect crime victims from emotional harm and prevent security threats, such as inmates using interviews to slip coded messag
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