Prisons cracking down on porn

Litigation, a legal loophole and pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union to respect First Amendment rights have brought the issue of pornography in prison to the forefront in recent weeks.

A Washington man accused of molesting young boys got his hands on child pornography this week because of a legal loophole, the Boston Globe reported. In Michigan in the meantime, an inmate is suing the state over his jail's ban on pornographic materials, arguing that he is being subjected to "cruel and unusual punishment," according to the Detroit News. The incidents, in concert with the ACLU's recent campaign to force a South Carolina prison to loosen restrictions on reading materials to include pornography, have sparked controversy about whether pornography is harmful or harmless in the prison environment.

No prisons allow inmates access to child pornography. Because Weldon Marc Gilbert, a former pilot, is acting as his own lawyer, he is legally allowed to review the evidence against him, ABC News reported. That includes hundreds of videos he made of the abuse.

Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist said he intends to fight the judge's decision to approve Gilbert's access to the porn based on a previous Washington Supreme Court decision.

"In my 16 years as a prosecutor, this is one of the most absurd and maddening results I've ever heard of," Lindquist said. "We don't have to turn over the guns used as evidence for a defendant … and it's absurd that we have to turn over the child porn as evidence."

State policies on adult pornography, though, are "all over the place," according to the Hartford Courant. Some states attempt to define what is acceptable and what is not. Some states, like Alabama and Arizona, ban it completely. Connecticut became the latest to crack down on sexually explicit material Monday when officials announced prisoners have until June 30, 2012, to wean themselves off pornography.

Connecticut decided to ban pornography because inmates fought over it and stole it from each other, the Hartford Courant reported. Staff members also felt it was counterproductive for sex offenders who were undergoing treatment to be surrounded by pornography in their living quarters.