Fifty-eight inmates at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility in Iowa have filed a lawsuit after a new law banned them from viewing pornography. The law, which took effect on November 14 eliminated "pornography reading rooms" and said that prisoners could no longer possess naked photos in their cells.
According to the Des Moines Register, the inmates claim that the law violates their constitutional rights and was enacted by "religious tyrants."
The new law struck down three decades of precedent after a judge ruled in 1988 that the state's laws banning pornography in prisons were unconstitutionally vague. The new law was part of the budget for the Iowa Department of Corrections and prohibited correctional facilities in the state from appropriating funds to run the pornography viewing rooms or facilitate in providing sexually explicit material to inmates.
Prison officials said that they did not do a search for pornographic material when the law took effect but explained that any prisoner found to be in possession of contraband photographs during routine searches would be punished appropriately.
In addition to having their right to view pornography restored, the inmates are also asking for $25,000 each in compensation.
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