A Convicted Killer Is Suing Connecticut for Access to Porn
Prison is supposed to be a punishment, but Connecticut correctional institutions have gone too far by taking away an important Constitutional right: access to porn.
That’s according to one convicted murderer who is suing the state for the right to look at images of naked people.
Dwight Pink, Jr., 44, who is serving a 56-year sentence at the Cheshire Correctional Institution, claims that his constitutional rights were violated when prison guards denied him access to an art book containing images of nude models.
A 2011 prison directive bans any printed material containing “pictorial depictions of sexual activity or nudity.’’ The directive protects material with literary, artistic, educational, or scientific value, however. The previous rule only banned materials depicting “sado-masochism, bestiality, children, or the use of force,’’ according to The Hartford Courant.
Not surprisingly, the ban has been unpopular with inmates. Soon after it was passed, a group of inmates began writing letters to the state’s Department of Corrections requesting that it either lift the ban or find porn “alternatives,’’ such as cable programming, WTIC reports. Six lawsuits challenging the ban are still being litigated, according to WCVB.
In 2002, Pink was convicted of the 1998 murder of Scott Rufin. Rufin was shot in the head five times with two different guns and stabbed in the heart seven times with a sword. Pink led the police to Rufin’s remains two years later. During his sentencing hearing, Pink said: “Conscience? I have a conscience. That’s why the family has the remains.’’
WFSB reports that, in addition to getting to look at naked people again, Pink is asking for attorneys’ fees and $25,000.
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