CARNAL NATION

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a ban on pornography in state prisons following a challenge brought by a convicted rapist. The Pennsylvania Corrections Department instituted a ban on images of human nudity and "materials in which the purpose is sexual arousal" in 2005. Exceptions to the policy can be made for items deemed to have educational or artistic merit. Inmate Shannon R. Brittain filed a lawsuit two years ago contending that the ban violated his constitutional rights. Which rights, we wonder? The pursuit of happiness? To bolster his claim, Brittain, who acted as his own attorney, introduced into evidence the statements of six other inmates who declared that porn does not affect their rehabilitation, does not provoke them to sexually harrass anyone, and does not create a hostile work environment for prison employees.

The justices did not buy the argument. "Brittain's submission of self-serving non-expert averments of fellow prisoners, which merely assert that they do not believe their rehabilitation and treatment are hindered by viewing pornography, were insufficient," wrote Justice Max Baer. The Corrections Department offered statistical evidence pointing to a decline in prison sexual assaults and misconduct since the ban was implemented. However, the justices left the door open for future challenges of the ban. Baer said that a compelling argument for lifting the ban is conceivable, but "the burden of doing so is high." As usual with porn, it will have to be another case of knowing it when you see it.