Teh One Who Knocks
03-12-2012, 09:53 PM
By GREG TUTTLE - The Billings Gazette
http://i.imgur.com/lNZ2b.jpg
Billings attorney Stacy Sampson had been inside the Yellowstone County jail hundreds of times during her four-year tenure as a public defender. But during a visit two years ago, she saw something that still makes her mad.
As a jail officer led Sampson to an inmate's cell, Sampson said, she saw pictures of nude women on the walls of several other cells.
"I found it shocking, disturbing and inappropriate," she said.
Sampson telephoned Mike Linder, who at the time was a sheriff's lieutenant campaigning against the incumbent sheriff. With several months to go before the election, Sampson said, she thought Linder could raise the issue during his campaign.
At the very least, Sampson said, she asked Linder to address the issue if he won the election, which he did in November 2010.
"He indicated to me that he found it inappropriate, he could think of no rational reason for that policy to be in place and that it was an issue that if he were elected that he would address," Sampson said.
Sampson left her public defender's job that same year, and she has been busy establishing a private practice that doesn't include as much criminal defense work.
As a result, her visits to the county jail are infrequent, and the issue that sparked her concern about the jail in 2010 took a back seat.
But that changed recently when Sampson was back at the jail to visit a client.
During the recent visit, Sampson said she asked a jail officer if the policy regarding nude photographs had changed. Sampson said she was told that some sexually graphic material, such as the European edition of Maxim, was no longer allowed inside the jail.
But other magazines, such as Playboy, were still allowed.
"I can't think of any legitimate reason that an inmate needs access to any sort of adult pornography," Sampson said during a recent interview. "I don't believe there's any rehabilitative value to Playboy in the detention facility."
Sampson said she appreciates that most county jail inmates are not convicted of the crime that landed them behind bars, and that many are held in the facility for months before their cases are resolved. But she worries that allowing inmates to have such materials could be a safety concern.
"I believe that it would make an inmate more sexually aroused, which could then possibly cause another inmate" to be victimized, she said.
And she wonders if female inmates are allowed similar materials.
"It bothers me on several levels," she said. "I don't think it's appropriate, period. You're in jail. Secondly, I have not inquired, but I do not believe that the women are allowed to have access to pornography, which brings up a civil rights issue."
Linder was out of the office Friday, but sheriff's Capt. Dennis McCave, who oversees jail operations, said he spoke with Linder about the issue shortly after the new sheriff took office in January 2011.
"One man's art is another man's trash," McCave said when told of Sampson's concern. "Where do you draw the line?"
The jail does have a rule against allowing inmates access to graphic sexual materials, McCave said. Images of people engaged in sexual activity or posing in sexual positions are prohibited, as are images of genitalia.
"What she (Sampson) is offended by is obviously nudity," McCave said. "Then we would have to ban National Geographic. Nudity by itself is not pornographic."
There are some publications that are not allowed at the jail, McCave said.
"You'll never see a Hustler in here," he said.
The jail does not provide the materials. McCave said inmate subscriptions must come directly from the publisher through the mail, and not from family or friends who may want to personally deliver the periodicals.
All magazines and other materials sent to inmates are reviewed before being distributed to make sure they don't violate policy, which includes a prohibition against materials that could jeopardize safety or incite violence. Examples of such materials, McCave said, would include a bomb-making manual or directions on how to make weapons or escape.
McCave said he disagrees that Playboy photos or similar materials pose a risk at the jail.
"We have no indication that our permission is causing any problems for the safety and security of inmates or our staff," he said.
There is a policy against inmates hanging nude pictures, or anything else, on cell walls, McCave said. But it's a daily challenge to enforce that policy, he said, and often it is a handful of inmates that are repeat offenders.
"Every day our officers are taking things off the walls," McCave said. "They keep putting them back up."
http://i.imgur.com/lNZ2b.jpg
Billings attorney Stacy Sampson had been inside the Yellowstone County jail hundreds of times during her four-year tenure as a public defender. But during a visit two years ago, she saw something that still makes her mad.
As a jail officer led Sampson to an inmate's cell, Sampson said, she saw pictures of nude women on the walls of several other cells.
"I found it shocking, disturbing and inappropriate," she said.
Sampson telephoned Mike Linder, who at the time was a sheriff's lieutenant campaigning against the incumbent sheriff. With several months to go before the election, Sampson said, she thought Linder could raise the issue during his campaign.
At the very least, Sampson said, she asked Linder to address the issue if he won the election, which he did in November 2010.
"He indicated to me that he found it inappropriate, he could think of no rational reason for that policy to be in place and that it was an issue that if he were elected that he would address," Sampson said.
Sampson left her public defender's job that same year, and she has been busy establishing a private practice that doesn't include as much criminal defense work.
As a result, her visits to the county jail are infrequent, and the issue that sparked her concern about the jail in 2010 took a back seat.
But that changed recently when Sampson was back at the jail to visit a client.
During the recent visit, Sampson said she asked a jail officer if the policy regarding nude photographs had changed. Sampson said she was told that some sexually graphic material, such as the European edition of Maxim, was no longer allowed inside the jail.
But other magazines, such as Playboy, were still allowed.
"I can't think of any legitimate reason that an inmate needs access to any sort of adult pornography," Sampson said during a recent interview. "I don't believe there's any rehabilitative value to Playboy in the detention facility."
Sampson said she appreciates that most county jail inmates are not convicted of the crime that landed them behind bars, and that many are held in the facility for months before their cases are resolved. But she worries that allowing inmates to have such materials could be a safety concern.
"I believe that it would make an inmate more sexually aroused, which could then possibly cause another inmate" to be victimized, she said.
And she wonders if female inmates are allowed similar materials.
"It bothers me on several levels," she said. "I don't think it's appropriate, period. You're in jail. Secondly, I have not inquired, but I do not believe that the women are allowed to have access to pornography, which brings up a civil rights issue."
Linder was out of the office Friday, but sheriff's Capt. Dennis McCave, who oversees jail operations, said he spoke with Linder about the issue shortly after the new sheriff took office in January 2011.
"One man's art is another man's trash," McCave said when told of Sampson's concern. "Where do you draw the line?"
The jail does have a rule against allowing inmates access to graphic sexual materials, McCave said. Images of people engaged in sexual activity or posing in sexual positions are prohibited, as are images of genitalia.
"What she (Sampson) is offended by is obviously nudity," McCave said. "Then we would have to ban National Geographic. Nudity by itself is not pornographic."
There are some publications that are not allowed at the jail, McCave said.
"You'll never see a Hustler in here," he said.
The jail does not provide the materials. McCave said inmate subscriptions must come directly from the publisher through the mail, and not from family or friends who may want to personally deliver the periodicals.
All magazines and other materials sent to inmates are reviewed before being distributed to make sure they don't violate policy, which includes a prohibition against materials that could jeopardize safety or incite violence. Examples of such materials, McCave said, would include a bomb-making manual or directions on how to make weapons or escape.
McCave said he disagrees that Playboy photos or similar materials pose a risk at the jail.
"We have no indication that our permission is causing any problems for the safety and security of inmates or our staff," he said.
There is a policy against inmates hanging nude pictures, or anything else, on cell walls, McCave said. But it's a daily challenge to enforce that policy, he said, and often it is a handful of inmates that are repeat offenders.
"Every day our officers are taking things off the walls," McCave said. "They keep putting them back up."