Reading Room Document

Regulation of an Inmate's Access to the Media

So long as the Bureau of Prisons' decision to regulate an inmate's access to the news media is reasonably related to the legitimate penological interests articulated in the applicable regulations, the Bureau of Prisons may bar face-to-face media interviews or videotaped media interviews with an inmate, or place other reasonable conditions and restrictions on such interviews. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/19241/download.

April 13, 2001