”The publication [Truth Weekender] is seen…as objectionable and detrimental to rehabilitation [of prisoners] and reducing reoffending. It does not encourage sentence compliance and normalises and supports criminal beliefs and attitudes, … 

The ban ”is due to the negative effect that the sensationalised, and often inaccurate, reporting has on the good order of the prison.”     Corrections Department media advisor  (c.f. ref. 1)

The country’s most dangerous prisoners have been told they are no longer entitled to read New Zealand’s oldest weekly newspaper – a decision which will now go to the high court.

The Department of Corrections’ ruling was last night called ”extraordinary” by a top media law academic and is to become subject of a costly taxpayer-funded judicial review as one of New Zealand’s most prominent and litigious inmates prepares to challenge the decision.

On Monday Corrections bosses notified the Auckland-based publishers of Truth Weekender that their tabloid paper was banned from the maximum security Auckland Prison east division.

The paper has an extensive advertising section for prostitutes with photographs of near-naked females, but this was not what sparked the decision, rather the paper’s journalism was what upset authorities.

Source: Truth Banned From Auckland Prison – Fairfax Media

Story by Jonathan Marshall. 29 June, 2011

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/5203396/Truth-banned-from-Auckland-Prison [Read more…]