ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
CNN affiliate WJXT is reporting that the American Civil Liberties has filed a lawsuit against a South Carolina county jail's book policy.
They want the jail to permit pornographic books and magazines. They'd also like the restrictions against photos of weapons, drugs and alcohol lifted.
Apparently there was a misconception that the jail only allowed the Bible as reading material. While the jail does restrict materials -- they can't read anything bound by staples, paper clips or clasps of any kind -- all religious texts were permitted. Other available materials included novels, pamphlets and crossword puzzles. But no pornography. Jail officials claim that would create a hostile and chaotic environment.
Prisoner treatment is a tricky subject and I myself have advocated for greater religious freedom for inmates -- such as the right to take communion in worship services -- but this just strikes me as a story that would make more sense on the pages of The Onion. What do you think? Should the porn ban on prisoner reading material be lifted?
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Comments :
Nov '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Well, in answer to your question, no, the ban should obviously not be lifted. But I'm confused about another comment you make: prisoners can't receive communion? That sounds crazy.
Jun '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
I've heard that pornography has become a significant factor in causing divorce these days. Add that factor to incarceration, and what do you end up with? You end up with a divorced ex-con who has a porn addiction. Anybody see any problems with that?
Mar '11
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
With all of the reported prison rape and incarceration of criminals for sex crimes the ACLU thinks that what we need is some way to inflame their libidos. Geez!
Dec '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Let's see... unrestricted porn, alcohol, tobacco and firearms catalogs. Provision of dietary preferences. I suppose we already provide entertainment in the form of TV and movies and I've heard the athletic facilities are good. You know, we could save a lot of money if we eliminated the bars and guards and renamed the place Club Med.
I see the opportunity for a new revenue stream here. Instead of eco-tourism, we could appeal to the really adventurous souls (maybe those women who like to marry inmates) to rent a room. Then we could film the fun and make a reality TV series... hmm, but the name, "Survivor", is already taken. Thoughts?
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Well, these things vary state to state and even county to county. Wisconsin only passed a law allowing it in 2006.
Nov '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Well, these things vary state to state and even county to county. Wisconsin only passed a law allowing it in 2006. · May 31 at 6:51am
Hmm. That link is scary. You have a representative suggesting that if we allow Communion wine we also may have to allow Satan worship and the drinking of blood? How can we possibly have gotten to a point of such moral relativism that our society thinks we can't legally distinguish between Christian worship and alcohol abuse or Satanism?
Edited on May 31, 2011 at 7:33amRe: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
The Boston Herald reports today:
Feb '11
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
“Jail officials claim that would create a hostile and chaotic environment.”
Here is the problem with this sentence: Even if a case might be made that allowing the widespread distribution of pornography would create a hostile and chaotic environment, it sounds very implausible that this is the primary reason jail officials want to keep it banned. Suppose that the prisoners’ representatives can show that there isn’t a whole lot of evidence that any hostility and chaos would result. Would that really change anything? Suppose, even, that they were able to provide ample evidence that prisons that allow pornography are statistically no more violent than prisons that forbid it, once you account for other variables. Would that convince any of the prison officials to change his mind?
May '11
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
It seems to me that once you become a convicted prisioner (as opposed to an accused criminal in a county jail) you lose all but some very basic rights. You can't restrict prisioners access to law books and religious texts and you should give them access to textbooks, but it seems to me that other that the prision officials ought to have relative carte blanche as a to what they chose to allow in and what they keep out.
May '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Since when have prisoners the right to read anything and everything. Perhaps viewing of some Internet jihad sites, the occasional bomb making with kitchen ingredients recipes are the next freedom to be given rights. Masturbatory images are not a right for G-D's sake, prisoners can use the imagination and MTV television if they are desperate.
Here is a deal - Prisoners get their porn, as long as the hanging, the birch, and other corporal punishments gets reintroduced, and any period parole reduced by the number of images consumed. We will see how important such freedoms really are to a prisoner then.
Alternatively, bromide is cheap and plentiful, and can be dispensed with Coffee in the morning.
Edited on May 31, 2011 at 7:44amAug '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
I am not a proponent of allowing prison inmates to receive pornographic books or gun catalogs, but I do think that the trend of restricting reading materials has become a hot item of late. Wisconsin banned inmates from playing Dungeons & Dragons because they believed it promoted gang like activities. The folks over at Volokh had a good time with the topic, but the fact that prisons are banning D&D smacks of the culture wars of the 80s and the kinds of misinformation that were rampant then seems to be continuing.
Aug '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
I'm pretty indifferent on the issue itself, but the story is clear evidence that the ACLU has outlived its usefulness if THIS is all they have to complain about these days. If the ACLU has time and resources to chase this sort of issue down, then liberty and freedom in the United States must be doing pretty well.
Aug '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
"Deliberate indifference"
Whut?!
Aug '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
If they were playing 4th Edition D&D, then I fully endorse the ban.
4th Edition sucks.
If they were playing 2nd Edition, then I'm outraged! ;-)
Aug '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Misthiocracy--
I believe that "Edition Wars" rhetoric violates the Ricochet Terms of Service. Please refrain from them. As someone who runs a Moldvay/Cook campaign (Mystara), a 2nd edition campaign (Greyhawk), and a 4e campaign (Eberron), I find the edition wars tiresome. Unless we're talking about Traveller, then I am on board with edition wars. New Era?! Pah!
If you would like to have your theory regarding the suckitude of 4e tested, you are more than welcome to visit the Encounters session I run every Thursday at a local Burbank game store.
Mar '11
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
I think prisoners need an outlet for their energies. Without sexual outlets, violence against other inmates, as well as the staff, is surely a greater risk.
Think of it as managing a zoo. You provide the animals with those things that cost-effectively keep them well behaved.
May '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Misthiocracy
If they were playing 4th Edition D&D, then I fully endorse the ban.
4th Edition sucks.
If they were playing 2nd Edition, then I'm outraged! ;-) · May 31 at 7:54am
How about Call of Cthulhu (games)? Or does that lead to inspeakable horrors and ritual killings. Better just release them like in California, can't have the cruel and unusual punishment of restricted Role Playing games, and lack of fetish pornography.
Edited on May 31, 2011 at 9:24amMay '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Just the opposite is true. A causal link between pornography and violent crime has been shown in many studies. Here is a recent story I saw.
Aug '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
If you're willing to pay for airfare, hotel, meals, booze, and miscellaneous nerd expenses, I'm all for it. :-)
Aug '10
Re: ACLU Sues For Prisoner Porn
Alas, like most gamers, my discretionary income is taken up paying for the storage unit's worth of games I own. Perchance you are attending GenCon this year?