Court upholds ban on inmate playing Dungeons & Dragons

OnDeadline wrote:A Wisconsin inmate serving a life term for homicide has lost his legal bid to play Dungeons & Dragons behind bars.

The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Kevin Singer's argument that a prison ban on him playing the fantasy game violated his right to free speech and due Singer, who was convicted of killing his sister's boyfriend with a sledgehammer, is a "devoted player" of the role-playing game, according to court documents.

Officials at Waupun Correctional Institution argued that playing Dungeons & Dragons "represented a threat to prison security."

The court said the prison acted after receiving an anonymous letter from an inmate worried that Singer and three other inmates were forming a D&D gang and trying to recruit others.

One gang expert told the court that fantasy role-playing games such as D&D have "been found to promote competitive hostility, violence and addictive escape behavior" that can threaten the security of the prison.

The court, in upholding the ban, pointed out that "punishment is a fundamental aspect of imprisonment" and can include taking away a prisoner's favorite recreation.

It noted that Singer, like other inmates, still has access to other games such as Risk, Stratego, chess and checkers.