Prison Penthouse
Nothing like wrapping up an Independence Day weekend with claims from a repeat criminal offender in Michigan that his Constitutional rights are being deprived because he is being denied access to porn in prison. Says it’s cruel and unusual punishment, or something. This from The Detroit News:
Kyle Richards, 21, of Fraser filed the five-page handwritten lawsuit June 10 in U.S. District Court in Detroit. He wants a judge to let inmates possess erotic/pornographic materials along with personal televisions, video game consoles and radios.
“Such living conditions have been used as a method of ‘psychological warfare’ against prisoners, in order to both destroy the morale of inmates and break the spirit of individuals,” Richards wrote in a court filing.
The lawsuit is the latest in a growing string of complaints he’s filed since last year in federal court.
Federal judges have dismissed at least three of the cases, labeling them frivolous.
…
State prisons allow inmates to possess pornographic material with a few exceptions. Playboy and Penthouse magazines are allowed, spokesman John Cordell said.
The Macomb County jail, however, does not let inmates possess porn. But Richards did not sue the county.
Richards found few people rallying to his defense Friday.
“Prisons have a lot of leeway to regulate the material that comes in and out,” said Kary Moss, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan.
Richards’ criminal record includes convictions for assault and battery of a state worker in Livingston County and assault of a prison employee in Washtenaw County.
The lack of pornographic materials behind bars forces Richards to endure “such a poor standard of living, suffering from both sexual and sensory deprivation …” he wrote.
Richards has been in jail since January after being charged with bank robbery and is being held on $500,000 bond. He pleaded guilty Thursday and will be sentenced Aug. 2.
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t what the Founders had in mind when they were crafting the Constitution.
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