JAIL HOUSE LETTERS DISSECTED: Religious references removed before delivery.

     A Virginia woman said the letters she sent to her son at the Rappahannock Country (Virginia) Regional Jail had entire sections removed that contained Bible passages or other religious references.

     Anna Williams, whose son was detained at the jail, said the jail cited prohibitions on Internet material and religious material sent from home.

     "She's a devout Christian, and her son's in jail there and she's been trying to send him letters with Bible passages and whatever -- and the jail has actually been going through snipping out portions of letters," attorney John Whitehead told OneNewsNow. Whitehead, who is founder of the Rutherford Institute, is representing Wiliams. "[S]ome of the letters are full of Bible verses, so what her son is getting is absolutely at the end of the letter where she says goodbye, I love you, and those kinds of things."

     According to Whitehead, other jails are doing the same thing.

     "Various Christian organizations are trying to give Bibles to prisoners...and prisons and local jails are actually prohibiting [that], saying such materials could be dangerous -- and they're actually stopping them," he laments. "So this is a nationwide thing that we're seeing, and [it's] one reason why we're trying to get involved in this case and stop it and nip it in the bud."

     Whitehead tells OneNewsNow that courts have ruled there must be a compelling reason for censoring inmate mail -- and Bible verses, he says, hardly represent a compelling reason.

     Prison Fellowship, the ACLU, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and other groups have sent a letter to Rappahannock Regional Jail Superintendent Joseph Higgs, Jr., calling the policy illegal. Higgs issued a statement saying the groups' letter prompted him to launch an internal investigation.