Mark Jordan won’t be receiving magazines or books that contain nudity or sexually explicit material now that a U.S. district judge has decided keeping Jordan from receiving those images in prison does not violate his constitutional rights.
Jordan, a prisoner at the ultra-high security Supermax in Florence, sued the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and challenged the Ensign Amendment, a 1996 law designed to prevent federal prison employees from spending resources on delivering pornographic materials to inmates.
Jordan, 32, testified before Chief Judge Edward Nottingham Jr. that he never subscribed to Playboy, Penthouse or Hustler. Jordan, serving time for bank robbery and murder, represented himself during the two-day trial.
Jordan said he was sent a copy of a book showing images derived from the “Kama Sutra”; D.H. Lawrence’s “Divas and Lovers,” which contained images of erotic art; and a magazine, Juxtapoz, which contained cartoon nudes.
Prison mailroom employees withheld those publications from Jordan, and he sued, arguing his First Amendment and due-process rights were being violated.
Although The New Yorker magazine and Jane, a fashion magazine, were not included in his lawsuit, Jordan had tried to argue that he was denied those publications — even though they are not typically considered sexually explicit — because there was nudity contained within the pages.
Nottingham did not allow those arguments because they were not part of Jordan’s claims.
Jordan convinced prison staff that some of the magazines were not sexually explicit. But sometimes, as in the case of the “Kama Sutra,” publications were returned to the publisher before Jordan could argue for keeping them.
Nottingham directed the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to keep the magazines until the administrative appeals were exhausted.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
