Montana prison sued for refusing to forward Spanish-language letters to inmates

The Montana Department of Corrections is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union that claims the Montana State Prison is violating an inmate’s free speech rights by refusing to deliver letters written to him in Spanish.

William Diaz-Wassmer, a 26-year-old Guatemalan who’s serving life in state prison for murder, robbery and arson committed in 2006, charged in a lawsuit filed June 30 that the prison has a discriminatory mail distribution policy.

According to prison policy, incoming mail must be screened for security threats, and returned to sender if it is written in code or in a language which prison officials cannot understand.

"Inmate correspondence can be used to plot threats to the facility, its staff, other inmates and the public at large,” the state’s court filing explained. “Inmate correspondence written in code or in a language which prison officials cannot understand can be used to facilitate the commission of blackmail, extortion, escape plans, trafficking in contraband and prison assaults and disturbances."

Since no one at the prison speaks Spanish, the facility is compelled to return letters in Spanish to their senders, the prison said.

The prison said it does not have a discriminatory “English-only” policy on prisoners’ mail as charged, but is merely strapped for funds, the Associated Press reports. After a Spanish-speaking prison employee who used to translate the inmate’s letters left, budget cuts prevented the prison from hiring another interpreter, it claimed.

Furthermore, translation software is not up to the job, Ira Eakin, staff attorney for the Corrections Department, told Reuters.

Wassmer is fluent in English so he does not have to write in Spanish, and his family members understand some English.

"While it is true that prisoners do not lose all of their constitutional rights upon incarceration, some rights retained by free citizens are lost or necessarily diminished by imprisonment," Eakin said.