Inmates’ Last Words May Be Edited Under New Ohio Prison Rule
Ohio prison officials say they had no objection to a death-row inmate’s 17-minute prayer before his execution, but they did see the potential for future problems.
Now they have a solution: A new prison rule allows the warden to place reasonable restrictions on final statements and to cut off statements that are intentionally offensive, the Associated Press reports.
Ohio began to allow unlimited statements after a 1999 lawsuit challenged a policy that allowed only written statements that would be read after the inmate’s death, according to AP and the Columbus Dispatch. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio brought the initial suit, and staff attorney Carrie Davis is troubled by the new policy. “This is certainly a violation of the First Amendment,” she told the Dispatch.
The courts have never settled the issue of limits on inmate statements, according to Cleveland-Marshall law professor Kevin O’Neill. He told AP that inmates’ rights to last words were well established before the adoption of the First Amendment.
Kentucky and Washington have a two-minute limit on final statements, while California requires that they be “brief,” the AP story says.
