Rules Violate Constitutional Right to Marry
ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Labette County, Kansas Jail Rules Prohibiting Inmate Marriages & Spousal Visitation
Rules Violate Constitutional Right to Marry of Inmates and Free Citizens
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2010
Contact: Doug Bonney, Legal Director
(816) 756-3113 x.228
Cell: (816) 550-4374
dbonney@aclukswmo.org
Kansas City, MO - The ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri has filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Kansas against William C. Blundell, Sheriff of Labette County, Kansas and the Board of Commissioners of Labette County. The case number is 10-CV-2110.
The suit alleges that the Sheriff and the County has denied fundamental constitutional rights of jail inmates to marry their loved ones. Nearly twenty-five years ago, the United States Supreme Court held that inmates retain the constitutional right to marry because, among other things, “inmate marriages, like others, are expressions of emotional support and public commitment” that – despite incarceration – offer many benefits to both the incarcerated person and the spouse.
Besides challenging the jail’s categorical ban on inmate marriages, the ACLU’s suit alleges that, after Hazel Mae Cowen and inmate Jon Kurtis Smith were married over the telephone on July 25, 2009, Sheriff Blundell retaliated against the couple by denying them spousal visitation rights and by refusing to allow Hazel Smith to accompany her and Mr. Smith’s small children to visit their father in the Labette County jail.
In July 2009, Jon Kurtis Smith was incarcerated at the Labette County Jail in Oswego, Kansas, awaiting trial on various felony charges. That month, Hazel Mae Cowen – the mother of two children with Mr. Smith – asked Labette County Sheriff William Blundell for permission to marry Mr. Smith in the jail. Through his officers and employees, Sheriff Blundell denied the request and would not allow the couple to be married in the jail while Jon was in custody. After consulting a lawyer, Hazel obtained a marriage license from the Labette County District Court on July 10, 2009, and Hazel and Jon were married in a marriage ceremony conducted over the telephone on July 25, 2009. In accordance with Kansas law, the marriage license was filed the Labette County District Court clerk on August 3, 2009.
The Labette County jail’s policy specifically prohibits inmates from marrying: “Marriage of Inmates: - The Labette County Jail will not honor a request for an inmate to get married while he or she is lodged in the jail.”
At the time Hazel and Jon were married, the jail's policy prevented prisoners from receiving visits from their spouses unless the marriage was properly documented. The jail changed its visitation policy one month after Hazel and Jon’s marriage. The new policy prohibits an inmate from receiving visits from his or her spouse unless the marriage had been documented prior to the prisoner's incarceration. Hazel presented her marriage license to jail staff in early August but was refused spousal visitation rights. Hazel arranged for the court clerk to phone the jail in order to verify that she was legally married to Jon Smith. Upon receipt of the phone call, Sheriff Blundell informed Hazel that he would continue to deny her spousal visitation rights because she had “gone behind his back and not followed procedure.” As revised on August 29, 2009, the jail’s current visitation policy provides as follows: “1.) Spouses-must be legally documented prior to incarceration (no common-law spouses, girlfriends and/or boyfriends will be allowed to visit).”
Hazel was prohibited from marrying Jon Smith in person and was denied visitation from July 25, 2009, until Jon was transferred to the El Dorado Correctional Facility on January 20, 2009.
The lawsuit seeks a judgment declaring that the jail’s policies are unconstitutional, enjoining enforcement of the marriage and visitation policies, and awarding Hazel Smith damages for the emotional distress and other harm the enforcement of these unconstitutional policies caused her to suffer.
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The mission of the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri is to protect and defend the Constitutional rights and civil liberties of every individual in Kansas and Western Missouri regardless of creed, race, religion or other labeling through education, advocacy, and litigation.
Complaint filed in Smith v Blundell