Prisoner Sues: Life Without Porn Violates His Rights

Getting locked up is a harsh punishment for anyone to endure. But what’s worse, according to Michigan inmate Kyle Richards, is serving jail time without having access to your porn collection.

In a handwritten lawsuit against Governor Rick Snyder and the state of Michigan, Richards claims his civil rights are being violated because denying him his X-rated material causes him a “poor standard of living” and “sexual and sensory deprivation.”

Although Michigan state prisons allow inmates to keep Penthouse, Playboy and a few other pornographic materials, Macomb County, where Richards is detained, still prohibits porn from their facility.

Officials justify their choice to ban porn in jail by saying that it is a danger to inmates because having porn around leads to aggression and violence. But the many studies in the subject have proven less than conclusive and that is why the Swedish Supreme Court, for example, ruled in favor of allowing porn in prison; there wasn’t enough to prove it would “jeopardize the safety of the institution.”

Besides, people in jail have little going for them. Their freedom was taken away, along with their privacy so the restrained nature of that life cannot be help but get worse with the added sexual frustration; to me, that would create more violence than letting them have porn around.

If anything, allowing them visual help when they need to decompress could have calming effects (with the exception of occasional fights if there isn’t enough porn for everyone to share).

Unfortunately, this is an issue that is unlikely to be addressed because a majority of people don’t believe in giving inmates some simple pleasures, because to them, criminals are no longer people.

Let them have the porn! It can’t compare to contact with a human being, but maybe they’ll be a little less lonely.

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