[lg policy] English-only rule scrapped at Utah prisons

[Harold Schiffman]

English-only rule scrapped at Utah prisons
By BRADY McCOMBS, Associated Press
Updated 2:43 pm, Wednesday, July 10, 2013

	

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah prisoners will be allowed to talk with
visitors in Spanish or any other language they want now that a
long-standing English-only rule has been scrapped.

By Aug. 1, signs in the Utah state prison saying, "All visits will be
conducted in English," will be taken down in a policy change ordered
by Utah's new prison boss, Rollin Cook.

That will put an end to the nation's only written rule from a state
prison system forbidding foreign languages during visits, said Chesa
Boudin, a deputy public defender in the city and county of San
Francisco and one of three authors of a Yale University law school
study that reviewed prison rules across the United States.

"I was shocked," Boudin said of when he learned of the rule. "This is
a country that prides itself on its diversity: racially, ethnically,
linguistically. Utah, while not the epicenter of immigration in this
country, has many language groups."

The rule for visitations was initially put in place as a safety
measure so corrections officers could understand what was being said
by inmates and visitors, said Utah Department of Corrections spokesman
Steve Gehrke.

The new policy, first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, takes effect Aug. 1.

It was triggered by a meeting Cook, who took over in April, had with
representatives with the American Civil Liberties Union, which for
years has been complaining about a free speech violation of the
policy.

Cook came away convinced it was time to ditch the old rule, but first
wanted to meet with the prison staff and make sure they could still
maintain safety while also allowing more languages to be spoken. They
told him they could do it, and Cook signed off on the new rule.

He said the change gives Utah prisons a better balance between
security and the rights of prisoners and their families. Cook notes
that it also recognizes the vital importance of visits in a prisoner's
path to being good citizens upon their release.

"That's their connection to the community and to their family and
friends," Cook said. "It's going to make the visitation a lot better
for people that don't speak English as their first language."

Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke said prison
officers will still have the authority to cut off conversations and
ask visitors to either speak English or leave if they think they are
hatching nefarious plans that put officers in danger. Cook said he has
zero concerns about the new policy compromising security.

John Mejia, legal director for the Utah chapter of the ACLU, said he
was thrilled by the policy change. The chapter has received a steady
stream of complaints about a policy many considered discriminatory.

"It stopped their friends, mothers, friends, cousins from being able
to talk with them in their own language," Mejia said.

Previous Utah prison bosses were reluctant to jettison the firmly
established rule, citing safety concerns, Mejia said. But Cook, who
worked closely with the ACLU in his previous job as Salt Lake County
jail commander, turned out to be a receptive audience.

"It's very heartening that the prison administration was willing to
listen to our concerns," Mejia said.

Corrections officials don't know how many of the 7,000 prisoners speak
foreign languages, but an ethnicity breakdown shows that nearly
two-thirds of prisoners are white and one-fifth are Hispanic.

Mejia said in addition to Spanish, some prisoners and their families
speak Pacific-Islander languages and Native American languages.

"It recognizes that prisoners have free-speech rights despite being in
prison," said Mejia, adding that the policy will enable prisoners to
maintain closer ties to family and friends.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/English-only-rule-scrapped-at-Utah-prisons-4657245.php

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