Prisons Drop Ban On Mail Thought to Promote Homosexuality

The Kentucky Department of Corrections has dropped a policy that let wardens ban mail to inmates if they thought the items promoted homosexuality.

The Lexington Herald-Leader (http://bit.ly/1rd0xQq ) reports that Corrections Commissioner Rodney Ballard sent a statewide memo to prison staff last week, issuing the revised inmate mail policy.

The policy previously allowed prison wardens to ban materials that depicted homosexuality, sadism, masochism, bestiality and sexual acts or nudity with children.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky challenged the policy's reference to homosexuality in March, citing free speech and free press rights by the First Amendment. When the policy was revised, the specific reference to homosexuality was removed.

Legal director of the Kentucky ACLU William Sharp says the old policy was discriminatory.