Inmates do not have a constitutional right to play electric guitar in federal prison, a U.S. appeals court ruled. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a ban on guitars, keyboards or other electronic instruments for federal prisoners, ruling it does not violate their constitutional right to express themselves musically. By a 2-1 vote, the panel upheld the rationale by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for the ban and rejected a challenge by inmates Brett Kimberlin and Darrell Rice, who wanted to play electric guitars at a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland. In 1995, when the ban went into effect, the only instrument allowed in the Cumberland prison was the harmonica, but inmates who already had a guitar or electronic keyboard were allowed to keep them. (Agencies) | 近日美国美国哥伦比亚巡回地区上诉法院规定，联邦监狱中的囚犯不允许在狱中弹奏电吉他，因为宪法没有赋予他们这样的权力。 该法院对禁止服刑犯人拥有电吉他、键盘或其他电子乐器的禁令。尽管宪法规定囚犯有权在狱中用音乐表达自己，但该法院认为这一禁令并不与之冲突。 通过一项2对1的投票表决，上诉法院通过了美国联邦监狱管理局对狱中囚犯使用电吉他的禁令，并拒绝了囚犯达雷尔·赖斯和布雷特·金伯林想要在马里兰坎伯兰监狱弹奏电吉他的要求。 1995年该禁令实行后，坎伯兰监狱的囚犯们被允许拥有的乐器就只剩下口琴了，但在此之前已经有电吉他或键盘的囚犯被批准可以保留这些乐器。
（中国日报网站译） |
Updated: 2003-02-17 01:00
