Prisons struggle to keep out porn
Enforcing ban on access proves to be a challenge, documents suggest
Stopping federal inmates f rom watching skin flicks in prison has proven to be a bit of a challenge for the federal government, newly released records suggest.
Last year, then-public safety minister Vic Toews announced that he had “put an end to this unacceptable practice” after it emerged that inmates at Nova Scotia’s Springhill Institution were ogling X-rated material on their TVs.
But this past February, the subject of “sexually explicit materials in prison” was back on the agenda in a meeting between Toews and Don Head, commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada.
A briefing document prepared for the minister in advance of that meeting stated that an absolute ban on prison porn was virtually “impossible.”
The document, obtained by Postmedia News under access-to-information legislation, stated that public safety staff had worked over the years with corrections staff to “arrive at a point where there are reasonable limits placed on offenders with respect to their access to sexually explicit materials” — for instance, “where it contradicts their correctional plan or is seen as an issue with respect to the management of a sex offender.”
But, the document said, “there are operational and legal limits … to an absolute ban.”
One has to keep in mind that these materials are “generally available and can be legally obtained in Canada” and these materials are “obtained at the offenders’ own cost and they have a legal right to access them,” the document said.
“Operationally, for instance with respect to the TV/cable packages that offenders pay for, sometimes sexually explicit programming is available as part of the package — it would be impossible to stop access to these materials in these cases.”
The briefing document said the issue had been “satisfactorily managed” over the years.
Frederik Boisvert, a spokesman for current Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, said in an email Wednesday that it is “completely unacceptable” for convicted criminals to have access to sexually explicit programs.
“That’s why the previous minister of public safety instructed prison officials to eliminate sexually explicit television programming. We have been assured that prisoners cannot access this material,” Boisvert said.
Asked if this meant that there is, in fact, an absolute ban, Boisvert replied: “It is our understanding that no access to sexually explicit materials is permitted.”
A government official who did not wish to be named added that it was subsequently determined that inmates did not have a right to access pornographic channels.
A spokeswoman for the correctional service refused to confirm if that was the case, deferring to the minister’s office for comment.
The extent to which inmates should be restricted from accessing sexually related materials is an issue that corrections officials across North America have been grappling with.
Just this month, the Connecticut Department of Corrections came under fire after it removed from circulation the coming-of-age novel She’s Come Undone because of its graphic content.
But after mounting outrage on social media — the best-selling novel was an Oprah Book Club favourite pick — the department reversed its decision.
Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union in that state had previously expressed concerns that rules banning sexually explicit materials in prisons had a “troubling history of being enforced in an arbitrary and overly broad manner.”
This past spring, an appeal court panel in California ordered prison officials in that state to return a work of werewolf-human erotica to Pelican Bay State Prison inmate Andres Martinez, who has convictions for multiple crimes, including attempted murder and is considered an associate of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.
Prison officials had confiscated the novel, The Silver Crown, taking issue with its graphic descriptions of sexual conduct and concerned that it incited violence.