I have just finished reading a report by Rob Karwath (Aug. 7), ”Lawsuit lays bare inmate`s desire to worship in the nude,” which if factual also
”lays bare” the worst aspects of our present set of laws, both civil and criminal.
The inmate in question, jailed for 30 years for attempted murder plus other offenses, is filing suit against the Department of Corrections, complaining that it ”violates his 1st Amendment rights by prohibiting naked worship.” Yet another inmate recently sued to protest that he wasn`t allowed to wear women`s clothing in his cell. And at any given time, a spokesman said, the department has 800 to 900 suits pending against it and needs about 70 assistant attorneys general to handle these mostly frivolous suits, costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
I was under the impression that one of the reasons for incarceration of criminals was to deprive them of some of their civil rights, not add to them. This is undoubtedly a legacy of late, unlamented Justice Earl Warren, who spent most of his public life making sure the felon received twice as many rights as the victim.
Let us take the country out of the hands of the lawyers and hand it back to the citizens. Anything that can be done to disallow or undo this blatant and flagrant misuse of our laws by jailed criminals should be undertaken immediately.
