South Carolina Inmate Receives 37 Years In Solitary Confinement For Updating Facebook

‘Almost 400 inmates in South Carolina have spent time in solitary confinement for using social media websites, a violation the state Department of Corrections defines as equal to murdering or raping a fellow inmate, according to an Electronic Frontier Foundation investigation.

The digital rights group discovered through a public information request that prison officials have filed more than 400 disciplinary actions against prisoners who were found to be using cellphones smuggled behind bars to access Facebook or who gave their personal account information to friends or family to update their accounts. And since 2012, the South Carolina Department of Corrections has defined “creating and/or assisting with a social networking site” as a Level 1 offense, punishable by solitary confinement or the removal of privileges like phone access or visitation time.’

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