Colorado: Court upholds federal law impairing porn distribution in prisons
How Appealing links to this Denver Post report and the ruling in Jordan v. Sosa, No. 05-cv-01283-EWN-PAC (Dist. Colo., July 11, 2008). The opinion provides this background:
Plaintiff, Mark Jordan, a prisoner in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”), currently confined at the United States Penitentiary-Administrative Maximum (“ADX”) in Florence, Colorado, challenges the constitutional validity, both facially and as applied to him, of 28 U.S.C. §530C(b)(6) (“Ensign Amendment”), and its implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. §540.72(a). The portion of the Ensign Amendment relevant to this action provides:
Funds available to the Attorney General for the Federal Prison System may be used . . . except that no funds may be used to distribute or make available to a prisoner any commercially published information or material that is sexually explicit or features nudity. 28 U.S.C. §530C(b)(6).
The portion of the federal regulation implementing the Ensign Amendment at issue in this action provides:
When commercially published information or material may not be distributed by staff or made available to inmates due to statutory restrictions (for example, a prohibition on the use of appropriated funds to distribute or make available to inmates information or material which is sexually explicit or features nudity), the Warden or Designee shall return the information or material to the publisher or sender. The Warden or designee shall advise the publisher or sender that an independent review of the decision may be obtained by writing to the Regional Director within 20 days of receipt of the notification letter. Staff shall provide the inmate with written notice of the action. 28 C.F.R. § 540.72(a).