Inmates do not have a constitutional right to play electric guitar in
federal prison, a U.S. appeals court ruled.

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, when 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.