irisheyes66
08-23-2004, 01:04 PM
This is the kind of KDOC policy that is not only unnecessary, it's ridiculous.
It makes the process of ordering magazines a royal hassle...and why shouldn't I be able to send my guy a magazine subscription myself, as a gift? As long as the publication is one from the approved KDOC list, and sent directly from the publisher, it should be kosher. Of course, that would be the "reasonable" way....so it won't happen.
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Prison can regulate inmate subscriptions
By ROBERT A. CRONKLETON The Kansas City Star
The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Lansing Correctional Facility's regulations limiting the ways inmates can subscribe to magazines and periodicals are constitutional.
The ruling overturns a split decision by the Kansas Court of Appeals that ruled the regulations unconstitutional.
Three of the prison's inmates — Jerry Rice, Kent Vanderveen and Calvin Mercer — had challenged the regulations, saying the rules violated their constitutional rights because they required that purchases of books, newspapers and periodicals be made through their inmate accounts. Moreover, the rules limit the amount of money that inmates can spend each month.
The regulations also restrict the number of subscriptions they can receive and ban gift subscriptions purchased by those outside the prison for inmates.
Ken Smith, the prison's staff attorney, called the decision wise, saying the regulations help manage the inmate population, contributing to rehabilitation and the facility's security.
Smith said that at the time of the inmates' challenge, inmates in good standing — and not convicted of sex crimes — could spend up to $30 a month for any magazines they wanted, including adult magazines.
However, Smith said the prison put in place a new rule earlier this year that prohibits sexually explicit material for all inmates.
In Friday's ruling, Justice Lawton R. Nuss wrote that the regulations are reasonably related to valid interests of the Department of Corrections, and therefore constitutional.
“We may not necessarily agree that the DOC regulations are the best possible methods to rehabilitate inmates and to secure” the prison, Nuss wrote. “The test we use to determine the validity of the regulations, however, is whether they are rationally related to legitimate government interests. In this case, we find that they are.”
To buy items, inmates fill out purchase orders.
“What was happening is that inmates were not following that procedure,” Smith said. “Friends and family were purchasing a subscription in the inmate name and sending it in.”
That circumvented the prison's accounting system, which can only track money coming in and out of an inmate's account. It also bypassed the system of incentives and privileges granted to inmates based on their behavior, disciplinary actions and participation in programs or work assignments.
It makes the process of ordering magazines a royal hassle...and why shouldn't I be able to send my guy a magazine subscription myself, as a gift? As long as the publication is one from the approved KDOC list, and sent directly from the publisher, it should be kosher. Of course, that would be the "reasonable" way....so it won't happen.
_______________________________________
Prison can regulate inmate subscriptions
By ROBERT A. CRONKLETON The Kansas City Star
The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Lansing Correctional Facility's regulations limiting the ways inmates can subscribe to magazines and periodicals are constitutional.
The ruling overturns a split decision by the Kansas Court of Appeals that ruled the regulations unconstitutional.
Three of the prison's inmates — Jerry Rice, Kent Vanderveen and Calvin Mercer — had challenged the regulations, saying the rules violated their constitutional rights because they required that purchases of books, newspapers and periodicals be made through their inmate accounts. Moreover, the rules limit the amount of money that inmates can spend each month.
The regulations also restrict the number of subscriptions they can receive and ban gift subscriptions purchased by those outside the prison for inmates.
Ken Smith, the prison's staff attorney, called the decision wise, saying the regulations help manage the inmate population, contributing to rehabilitation and the facility's security.
Smith said that at the time of the inmates' challenge, inmates in good standing — and not convicted of sex crimes — could spend up to $30 a month for any magazines they wanted, including adult magazines.
However, Smith said the prison put in place a new rule earlier this year that prohibits sexually explicit material for all inmates.
In Friday's ruling, Justice Lawton R. Nuss wrote that the regulations are reasonably related to valid interests of the Department of Corrections, and therefore constitutional.
“We may not necessarily agree that the DOC regulations are the best possible methods to rehabilitate inmates and to secure” the prison, Nuss wrote. “The test we use to determine the validity of the regulations, however, is whether they are rationally related to legitimate government interests. In this case, we find that they are.”
To buy items, inmates fill out purchase orders.
“What was happening is that inmates were not following that procedure,” Smith said. “Friends and family were purchasing a subscription in the inmate name and sending it in.”
That circumvented the prison's accounting system, which can only track money coming in and out of an inmate's account. It also bypassed the system of incentives and privileges granted to inmates based on their behavior, disciplinary actions and participation in programs or work assignments.