Opinion ID: 2428587
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: inmate correspondence

Text: On December 29, 1992, Appellant wrote a letter to Demond Bush, which was intercepted by personnel at the Franklin County Correctional Complex and subsequently delivered to prosecuting authorities. After redaction, the following portion of the letter was read to the jury: What's up? Let me tell you what the word is. The word is that you turned state's evidence on Sean. It's not coming from people on the street. It's coming from the detectives. Detective Hazelwood told Brenda, Sean's mom, that you turned in state evidence. Look, you sit down today and write me. Not tomorrow, today! and let me know what's going on. The detective told Brenda he was getting ready to drop the bomb on three people. He didn't say any name. I haven't heard from Sean but he's going to write me back this week. Don't go out like no sucker, man. You are better than that, you dig. You know they are trying to hang all three of us for nothing. I'm hearing more and more severyday. I gotta go. Write back today. Appellant asserts that the letter was outgoing correspondence from him to Demond Bush while Appellant was incarcerated at FCCC and Bush was incarcerated somewhere else. The significance of this assertion appears to be that OAG 65-475 opines that a jailer is entitled to censor all incoming mail addressed to prisoners in a county jail, and can transfer information contained in that mail to prosecuting authorities when there is a legitimate mutual interest. (In fact, the authorities cited in that opinion can be interpreted as authorizing interception of incoming or outgoing mail of a prisoner.) The uncontradicted testimony of Bill Read was that Appellant was transferred out of FCCC on November 25, 1992. If so, the letter must have been sent by Appellant from another penal institution to Bush, who remained incarcerated at FCCC, thus was incoming mail. Since both Appellant and Bush were incarcerated, we perceive it to be a difference without a distinction whether the correspondence was seized as outgoing mail at Appellant's place of incarceration or incoming mail at Bush's place of incarceration. Either way, we agree with the Commonwealth's assertion that inmates have no absolute right to send letters to other prisoners. Accord Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 91-93, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 2263-64, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987); Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 412-13, 94 S.Ct. 1800, 1810-11, 40 L.Ed.2d 224 (1974); Meadows v. Hopkins, 713 F.2d 206 (6th Cir.1983). Kentucky Corrections Policies and Procedures (CPP) 16.2, IV.B(2), incorporated in 501 KAR 6.020 § 1(3), provides that all incoming mail, except that which qualifies as privileged, shall be opened and inspected or read to determine if Contraband is enclosed or any violation of prison rules has occurred. Upon arriving at Kentucky penal institutions, inmates are advised that their outgoing mail is subject to being inspected and read. CPP 16.2, IV.A(6)(b). In Meadows v. Hopkins, supra, at 210-11, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a United States Bureau of Prisons regulation authorizing prison staff to read incoming and outgoing general correspondence of inmates. Bill Read testified that the FCCC policy in effect in December 1992 was to open and inspect all incoming mail for contraband and security reasons. Outgoing mail was also subject to inspection when it raised security concerns. Inmate-to-inmate mail, especially incoming correspondence, was more closely scrutinized. These policies were even less restrictive than those approved in Meadows v. Hopkins, supra . No First Amendment violation occurred as a result of the opening and inspection of Appellant's correspondence with Bush. Nor does the policy of providing seized correspondence to prosecuting authorities violate the Fourth Amendment proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures. In Stroud v. United States, 251 U.S. 15, 21-22, 40 S.Ct. 50, 52-53, 64 L.Ed. 103 (1919), it was held that letters voluntarily written by an inmate, without threat or coercion, which are intercepted by prison guards pursuant to established practice designed to protect the facility and promote security, may be provided to prosecutors for use at trial. See also United States v. Kelton, 791 F.2d 101, 102-03 (8th Cir.1986). Appellant's constitutional rights were not violated by the interception, seizure and subsequent use at trial of his December 29, 1992 letter to his co-defendant.