A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE TURNER STANDARD AS APPLIED TO SOCIAL MEDIA SPEECH

In 2016, Texas became the latest to join a trend of states to prohibit inmates from accessing or maintaining social media profiles while they are incarcerated. Since inmates' social media accounts are often managed by third parties outside of prison, these social media bans have created First Amendment concerns for not only inmates' speech, but for citizens who enjoy the full protection of the Constitution. In determining the constitutionality of social media bans, courts have applied a deferential standard to free speech, developed in the 1987 Supreme Court decision, Turner v. Safley. This Note will take a critical approach to precedents' application of this standard to assess the constitutionality of social media censorship. Then, this Note will turn to Turner and its progeny to argue that a new standard of review for social media speech is warranted.