It can't be easy being on ice. Prisoners rarely, if ever, get to go anywhere. Dates? Forget it. An all-nighter watching trash TV? Only if you are in the honor block. Most prisons don't even allow inmates to smoke anymore. So, shouldn't a fellow, consigned to years of ennui, be allowed the reading material he chooses? That was the issue before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A convicted Oregon sex offender might be able to subscribe to the Green Lanterncomic book, but he has no federal constitutional right to buy magazines containing sexually explicit materials and fantasy role-playing games, a federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday.But the panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left unresolved the question of whether Afshin Bahrampour has a right to receive Muscle Elegance and White Dwarf magazines under the Oregon Constitution, which provides greater free-speech protections than its federal counterpart.
Bahrampour, 36, was convicted in 1998 of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl in 1995 when he briefly worked as an assistant coach at a Beaverton gymnastics academy. He was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison.
While an inmate at Snake River Correctional Institution, Bahrampour subscribed to the Green Lantern comic books and purchased copies of White Dwarf and Muscle Elegance.
. . . Prison officials rejected issues of Muscle Elegance because of sexual content and White Dwarf because of role-playing.
Magazines with sexual conduct, according to a corrections expert, "may result in prohibited sexual activity or unwanted sexual behavior, including rape."
Role-playing games are prohibited, prison officials said, "to prevent inmates from placing themselves in fantasy roles that reduce accountability and substitute raw power for legitimate authority," according to the 9th Circuit ruling.
Under normal circumstances, the access to such content by the general public, it would be outrageous to claim people don't have a right to read any of these publications. After all, despite speculation, there is not sufficient research to firmly establish a relationship between violent and sexually explicit pictures or games and pathological behavior. However, Bahrampour's situation is not normal. The Court was not convinced a prisoner can decide for himself what to read.
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