California prison ban on mail containing printed-out downloads from the Internet violated the First Amendment. Clement v. California Department of Corrections, #03-15006, 2004 U.S. App. Lexis 7576 (9th Cir.). [2004 JB Jun]
     Federal court strikes down as unconstitutional Arizona statute prohibiting prisoners from communicating with Internet websites through the mails or otherwise or receiving mail from them. Court finds that prohibition is not reasonably related to a legitimate penological purpose and that other statutes and policies already prohibit communication involving fraud, harassment of victims, communication with minors, and other purported purposes of the ban on communication with Internet service providers. Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty v. Ryan, 269 F. Supp. 2d 1199 (D. Ariz. 2003). [2003 JB Nov]
     293:67 California prison rule prohibiting the receipt, through U.S. mail, of Internet generated material, including e-mail, was rationally related to prison's legitimate security concerns; appeals court overturns order allowing prisoner to receive printouts of e-mails sent to his internet web page, created via an arrangement with an outside company. Collins, In Re, 86 Cal. App. 4th 1176, 104 Cal. Rptr. 2d 108 (2001).
     267:35 West Virginia Supreme Court upholds state policy barring prison inmates from possessing computers in their cells; prior practice allowing such possession did not create any vested right to continue to possess them, and deprivation of computer possession did not result in denial of meaningful access to the courts. West Virginia, State of, Ex Rel. Anstey v. Davis, 509 S.E.2d 579 (W. Va. 1998).
     231:35 Federal appeals court rules that inmate/prison law librarian, allowed computer in his cell by prison officials, had a right to aid mentally retarded inmate in preparing legal documents; prison employees not entitled to qualified immunity for seizing legal documents from law librarian's cell and disciplining him for possessing them. Newell v. Sauser, 64 F.3d 1416 (9th Cir. 1995).
     218:23 Federal trial judge, hoping to make the "message" clear to prisoner who filed multiple frivolous lawsuits, confiscates any computer, word processor or typewriter prisoner has, imposes $5,000 monetary sanction (to be collected by attachment of prisoner's commissary funds and future prison earnings), and orders that prisoner state, on the outside of each envelope of outgoing mail, that he has been "enjoined from asserting fraudulent personal injury claims." Williams v. Revlon Co., 156 F.R.D. 39 (S.D.N.Y. 1994).
     Prisoner's rights were not violated by prison's confiscation of unauthorized computer disks on which he had placed legal materials pertaining to his appeal; prisoner was not allowed to possess the disks or use prison computers, so prison authorities properly confiscated the disks. Bryant v. Muth, 994 F.2d 1082 (4th Cir. 1993).
     Warden's decision to deprive prisoner of his television set and personal computer because of refusal to sign an "individual performance plan" agreeing to keep himself and cell clean did not violate prisoner's rights. Jensen v. Powers, 472 N.W.2d 223 (N.D. 1991).
     Michigan prisoners had a protected property interest in possessing computers in their cells, but were not entitled to a hearing on denial of that interest. Spruyette v. Dept. of Corrections, 459 N.W.2d 52 (Mich. App. 1990).