In a decision sure to spark protest from well-meaning but clueless celebrities on both coasts, a federal appeals court has ruled that inmates DO NOT have a constitutional right to play the electric guitar.
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, before 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.
Still pending is a separate case that will determine whether or not federal inmates have a constitutional right to play air guitar.