State bill would ban inmates from Facebook

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Islam Dunn updates his Facebook page with a phone, as do so many other 19-year-olds, only he must hide the device so the prison guards don't notice.

The proliferation of cell phones smuggled into prisons has some inmates routinely updating their status from the inside, and South Carolina is considering becoming the first state to make that a crime.

The measure would add 30 days to a prisoner's sentence if he is caught interacting on social networking sites via cell phone. The bill goes a step further, too, making it illegal for anyone to set up a page for a prisoner, which legal experts say violates inmates' free speech rights, even if they are using contraband cell phones.

Rep. Wendell Gilliard, a Democrat from Charleston who proposed the law, said crime victims shouldn't have to worry about seeing or being threatened by a prisoner online. There's also a fear convicts are coordinating criminal activity.

"We now know that the criminals behind bars are using this as a method of intimidation. People's lives are threatened," Gilliard said. "How can we as a society stand by and do nothing?"

Tarangie Tyler's family was terrorized nearly two years ago by Dunn and a group of men who were trying to rob their home. Her husband, Jerry, 34, was shot to death in the attack after four men, including Dunn, kicked in the door of their home.

Tyler moved her five children to a safer neighborhood, but now fears they could be intimidated by simply logging on to the computer. "To hear that one of them has a Facebook, it's scary," said Tyler, 35. "I don't think they should have Facebook, because of the crime that they did. . . . . If they want to communicate, that's what a pencil and paper are for."

Prisoners are free to exchange letters with people on the outside, but their mail is monitored. Inmates in federal prison and a handful of other jurisdictions also have limited access to e-mail.

Yet smart phones provide easy access to social networking sites, and it's difficult for correction officials to keep up.