I'm wondering about something. First let me say that I think the way AC is getting treated in his cell is appropriate. However, being that he has not yet be tried and convicted, is it customary for a accused person in jail to be prevented from reading newspapers, mail, or having visitors? Is there something unique about his crime that has him treated this way? I am clueless about the rights of prisoners, but I've always thought they could be visited and receive mail and gifts from family.
I'm not sure where AC is being held currently (I'm sure I could find it just haven't looked yet), but I found some general info for Ohio Corrections. I don't know if this applies before they've gone to trial etc. or not, but I'm guessing most of it does.
Here's the general info I found:
http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web\mail_package.htm. In terms of mail I think the rules are the same before or after trial, but I think gifts/packages are more limited. There are whole companies devoted solely to putting together prison-approved packages of food and "sundries." Here's a little more on that for Ohio from one of the two vendors allowed to ship to the jails/prisons:
https://www.ohinmatepackage.com/Cat...nageStaticPage.aspx?pageid=ProductRestriction, and more about the restrictions:
http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web/administrative_rules/documents/9-33.pdf - depending on their security level they can get anywhere from 0 to 4 packages per year. I know there are restrictions including frequency, dimensions of the package, and I think the max weight is 30 lbs. per package, although I couldn't find details other than on the SecurePak vendor page. They don't really care who orders the package as long as it's intended for that specific inmate and it's within the guidelines.
From personal experience, a friend of my husband's was in county jail and two different prisons on some (non-violent) prescription drug charges, so I learned more about this stuff than I ever wanted to know. The time was all for the same charges, he just got bounced around a lot. This was in California and the rules varied between facilities, but the general rules are pretty consistent and seem similar to Ohio's. Both in county jail and prison he was allowed to get mail, with restrictions - i.e. you could send only a certain # of pictures per letter but they couldn't contain any "disallowed' content. I got one letter returned due to "nudity" when I sent him a picture from the summer before and his girlfriend was wearing a bikini. She was far from nude but apparently too close to it. :blush: Oops.
He could get newspapers or magazines, but only if approved and sent directly from the publisher. Gifts, not really. He could get the newspaper/magazine subscriptions or books as long as they were from an approved vendor (including Amazon so that was easy enough). He could get anything that fit within the rules for letters as long as it was on paper - for example news stories, jokes, etc. printed out from the internet. Also sent him Origami stuff once, but blank paper isn't allowed so I printed the directions on one side and wrote short notes on each sheet of origami paper.
This friend could have visitors but only during certain narrow windows of time, and only if you signed up in advance and managed to get through before the other hundreds of people trying to do the same thing. I was thinking the rules might be different for immediate family, but I'm not sure - no experience with that thankfully.
IIRC the friend was in county jail for about 6 months before he was convicted/sentenced. He could get the letters, subscriptions, and books before he was convicted, and he could spend money that he had "on file" in the commissary, but he couldn't get packages until he was convicted and assigned to a specific prison and security level.
I'm sure there are some variations, but I'm guessing the rules we encountered with my husband's friend are similar to the rules wherever Castro is being held.
And now you know more than you probably ever wanted to, too...
ETA: I imagine the rules do vary depending on the inmate, especially due to the suicide watch... so to answer your question about if Castro's being treated differently, it sounds like it. The above info is more general rules/regs/info about mail, gifts, and visitors in jails/prisons.