Pennsylvania law limiting speech of prisoners struck down

PHILADELPHIA, April 29 (UPI) -- A federal district court in Pennsylvania has struck down a law allowing victims of violent crimes to sue their offenders for speech that would cause "mental anguish," aimed to silence Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The Revictimization Relief Act was deemed "manifestly unconstitutional" by U.S. Middle District Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner. The law was enacted six months ago in an effort to silence the speech of Abu-Jamal, a celebrity criminal convicted in a disputed, controversial case of killing a police officer.

Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death, but was later changed to life imprisonment without parole to quell motions of appeals.

The Revictimization Relief Act states that:

"[A] victim of a personal injury crime... may bring a civil action against an offender... for conduct which perpetuates the continuing effect of the crime on the victim."

The law violated offenders' First Amendment rights, according to Conner. It was so broadly written the law could punish convicted criminals who were attempting to claim their innocence.

"A past criminal offense does not extinguish the offender's constitutional right to free expression," Conner wrote. "The First Amendment does not evanesce at the prison gate, and its enduring guarantee of freedom of speech subsumes the right to expressive conduct that some may find offensive."

Former Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed the Revictimization Relief Act shortly after the state's legislature rushed the bill days after a college in Vermont, during commencement, played a speech Abu-Jamal recorded in the State Correctional Institution - Mahanoy, a medium-security prison.

Advocacy groups, news organizations and inmates, including Abu-Jamal, filed a lawsuit in November.

"Before his law was enacted, I was determined to work with Mumia and others in prison to bring a case that would wipe it off the books as soon as possible," Bret Grote, an attorney for Abu-Jamal, said. "And we're pleased that day has come."

Judge Conner struck down the law, to the attorney general's office disapproval.

"However well-intentioned its legislative efforts, the General Assembly fell woefully short of the mark," wrote Conner. "The result is a law that is manifestly unconstitutional."

Republican State Rep. Mike Vereb, who authored the act, said he would rewrite and reintroduce the the law if the attorney general does not appeal the judge's decision.

"Justice isn't just about the criminals and their rights," Vereb said. "It's about the victims and their rights."