Houchins v. Kqed

438 U.S. 1 (1978)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

KQED reported the suicide of a prisoner in the Greystone portion of the Santa Rita jail. The report included a statement by a psychiatrist that the conditions at the Greystone facility were responsible for the illnesses of his patient-prisoners there, and a statement from petitioner denying that prison conditions were responsible for the prisoners' illnesses. KQED requested permission to inspect and take pictures within the Greystone facility, and it was refused. KQED and the NAACP filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983. They alleged that petitioner had violated the First Amendment by refusing to permit media access and failing to provide an effective means by which the public could be informed of conditions prevailing in the Greystone facility or learn of the prisoners' grievances. Petitioner announced a visiting program and invited all interested persons to make arrangements for the regular public tours. News media were given notice in advance of the public and presumably could have made early reservations. The tours did not include the disciplinary cells or the portions of the jail known as 'Little Greystone,' the scene of alleged rapes, beatings, and adverse physical conditions. Photographs of some parts of the jail were made available, but no cameras or tape recorders were allowed on the tours. Those on the tours were not permitted to interview inmates, and inmates were generally removed from view. The District Court preliminarily enjoined petitioner from denying KQED news personnel and 'responsible representatives' of the news media access to the Santa Rita facilities, including Greystone, 'at reasonable times and hours' and 'from preventing KQED news personnel and responsible representatives of the news media from utilizing photographic and sound equipment or from utilizing inmate interviews in providing full and accurate coverage of the Santa Rita facilities.' On interlocutory appeal from the District Court's order, petitioner invoked Pell v. Procunier, where the Supreme Court held that 'newsmen have no constitutional right of access to prisons or their inmates beyond that afforded to the general public.' The Court of Appeals rejected petitioner's argument and concluded that the public and the media had a First and Fourteenth Amendment right of access to prisons and jails, and sustained the District Court's order.