CALIFORNIA BILL FOR PRISON ACCESS VETOED

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By: Joel Davis Gov. Davis Vetoes Bill Again





California Gov. Gray Davis has again vetoed a bill giving journalists greater access to interview prisoners in state prisons.



Although championed by access advocates and easily approved by both houses of the state Legislature, Davis vetoed the bill - a watered-down version of a bill he vetoed in 1999 - because he said it would glorify some prisoners.



"The purpose of incarceration is punishment and deterrence; it is not to provide additional celebrity to convicts, many of whose criminal acts were brutal and violent, thereby causing further pain to the victims and their loved ones," Davis wrote in his veto message.





Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast editor for E&P.





Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.

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