Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Beard v. Banks (04-1739), raising the question of whether state prisons may deprive inmates of access to newspapers and magazines as part of their punishment for violating prison rules. According to the AP's report on the case, Pennsylvania prison officials permit inmates in the high-security disciplinary unit to have access to religious materials, two paperback books of general interest, their legal documents and letters from family. But newspapers, magazines and personal photographs are banned. The Becket Fund For Religious Liberty had filed an amicus brief (full text) in the case arguing that if the Court permits fundamental rights to be taken away as punishment in order to modify behavior of prisoners, in the future officials might begin to deprive inmates of religious texts as well as secular ones.
In the decision below, the Third Circuit had held the restrictions unjustified. Circuit Judge (now Justice) Samuel Alito dissented, finding the restrictions constitutional.
