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Offenders Face Bans on Gambling, Alcohol, Live-in Boyfriends, Computers

Posted Aug 13, 2009, 07:46 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Courts are grappling with supervised release terms that go beyond the usual restrictions on drug use and law-breaking.

Some felons convicted in federal courts are challenging restrictions on their post-prison life that they contend are arbitrary or too broad, the Wall Street Journal reports. The restrictions include bans on gambling, alcohol, live-in boyfriends, driving, inappropriate clothing and computer use.

The federal sentencing guidelines allow judges to impose special conditions during supervised release. These restrictions must be related to the crime and can’t cause “unnecessary deprivations” of liberty, the story says.

In one case, single mother Briane Woods of Odessa, Texas, convicted of distributing crack cocaine, was barred from living with anyone other than a relative or… Continue reading...



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