RNS
USA, April 11 (Religion News Service): Bibles cannot be the only reading materials allowed in jail, the U.S. Department of Justice said in joining a lawsuit against a South Carolina detention center on Tuesday (April 12).
The original suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Prison Legal News last October, charged that the Berkeley County Detention Center’s policy of banning all books other than the Bible was unconstitutional. “The county’s religious intolerance tramples our freedom of religion which is a cornerstone of the United States Constitution,” said William N. Nettles, the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, in a statement Wednesday.
According to the suit, copies of other publications were thrown away or shipped back.