No to Silencing Prisoners' Speech

Pennsylvania is setting a dangerous precedent that we all need to speak out against and put a quick stop to.

 In seeking to silence the legally protected speech of prisoners, the state of Pennsylvania damages citizens' right and freedom to know -- in this case, to better understand an area of U.S. life physically removed from public scrutiny.

This legislation emerged following the failure of the Fraternal Order of Police and its allies to stop prisoner and radio journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal from delivering an October 5, 2014, commencement address. This bill sacrifices the rights of all prisoners in Pennsylvania in order to silence Abu-Jamal -- an unethical deployment of collective punishment by those in power.

Victim relief is not served by denying fundamental rights to those convicted, especially because prisoner freedom of speech is crucial for redressing wrongful convictions and the current crisis of harsh sentencing that is often disproportionate to alleged crimes. Our society is currently engaged in a full-scale debate on the problems of mass incarceration that could not have developed without prisoners' voices.

We stand against the passage, in Pennsylvania, of the so-called "Revictimization Relief Act," which affords virtually unlimited discretion to District Attorneys and the state Attorney General to silence prisoner speech, by claiming that such speech causes victims' families "mental anguish." Politicians are claiming a power that if granted to them will be difficult if not impossible for citizens to check.

Sign petition and read more http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10521

All articles about

• Zensur,
• Informationsfreiheit,
• Anonymisierung,
• Meinungsfreiheit,
• Internetsperren,
• Persönlichkeitsrecht,
• Privatsphäre,
• Polizei,

Kommentar: RE: 20141024 Redeverbot für Gefangene

Heute (29.10.) ist das neue Maulkorbgesetz Thema einer Schwerpunktseite in junge Welt. Die Seite besteht aus einem Interview mit Mumia, einem Artikel zur »Woche der Meinungsfreiheit« in den USA (Randspalte) und eine Resolution der Schriftstellervereinigung PEN International, an der besonders wichtig ist, dass PEN darin die lebenslange Haft ohne Bewährung, zu der Mumia verurteilt ist, als Folter brandmarkt. (s. auch http://www.freedom-now.de/news/artikel1162.html ) Dort gibt es einen Link zum englischen Originalwortlaut des Maulkorbgesetzes.

Sven, 29.10.14 14:03

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