By C1 Staff
COLUMBIA — The South Carolina Department of Corrections is coming under scrutiny for the use of a policy that places inmates in solitary for using social networking sites.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that the SCDC created a Level 1 offense in 2012 titled ‘creating and/or assisting with a social networking site,’ which quickly became one of the most common Level 1 offense charges brought against inmates.
Having a cell phone inside a correctional facility is also a Level 1 offense, but not all social media accessing is done through a contraband phone, according to EFF.
Through a request under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, EFF found that over the last three years prison officials had brought more than 400 disciplinary case for ‘social networking,’ almost always on Facebook. A charge is brought against the inmate per day they spent on social media.
Inmate Tyheem Henry received 37.5 years in disciplinary detention and lost 74 years’ worth of telephone, visitation, and canteen time, along with 69 days of good time, for 38 posts on Facebook.
Henry is serving 15 years at the Lee Correctional Institution for the nearly fatal beating of Carter Strange on June 20, 2011. His posts are made with a contraband cell phone.
Another inmate, Walter Brown, received 34.5 years in disciplinary detention, 69 years in telephone, visitation, and canteen privileges and 2.4 years of good time for 35 posts on Facebook.
He is currently serving 15 years for a non-violent burglary. His posts were also made with a contraband cell phone.
The EFF says the sentences received for these charges are often much longer than the inmates’ original sentences, which means they won’t likely serve the entirety of their solitary confinement punishment. They also say that the SCDC is running out of room to place inmates in solitary due to the frequency of this offense.
Facebook works with the SCDC to remove inmate profiles, usually suspending them under the terms of their ToS agreement.
Also part of punishment for using social media, inmates allegedly also lose “good time” days that would have also otherwise resulted in an early release. This can lead to more money needed from taxpayers to keep inmates behind bars for longer.
As of February 3 of this year, Facebook has processed 512 ‘deactivation requests’ from the SCDC.