California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill on Friday that would have expanded the rights of journalists to tour state prisons and interview incarcerated individuals.
The measure, Senate Bill 254, would have imposed a requirement on all prisons that fall within the purview of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to permit accredited members of the news media to tour their facilities and to arrange for interviews with inmates upon their request.
The bill would also have prevented prisons from recording interviews with representatives of the news media, affording them many of the same protections as attorney-client conversations. And it prevented prisons from retaliating against inmates who agreed to participate in interviews with journalists.
In a veto message issued on Friday, Newsom said he appreciated the spirit of the bill, but noted that many prisons already have media policies in place that allow reporters to tour facilities and interview inmates. The governor said the bill would create significant public safety risks to facilities, victims and reporters if he signed it into law, and he was especially concerned that allowing unfettered access to prisons could turn inmates into celebrities.
“By removing nearly all discretion to limit media interviews of specific incarcerated individuals, this bill could have the unintended consequence of creating or elevating the celebrity status of certain incarcerated individuals through repeated media appearances, including on television and social media, which could glorify their actions and hurt victims and their families,” Newsom wrote.
The bill passed through the senate on concurrence in late August. It had broad support from news organizations and civil liberties groups, including the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the First Amendment Coalition, Families Against Mandatory Minimums and the California News Publishers Association.
Numerous local law enforcement agencies and related groups opposed the measure, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and the California State Sheriffs Association.
