A federal judge in New Jersey ruled this week that the state may not enforce a law that bans imprisoned sex offenders from having sexually oriented material. U.S. District Judge Alfred M. Wolin said the law is vague and overbroad. He issued a preliminary injunction that extends the freeze he put on enforcing the law, which was to have taken effect June 1.\n A trial is to be held July 20, after which the judge may issue a permanent injunction.\n New Jersey Attorney General Peter Verniero said he was disappointed with the decision and continues to believe the law is constitutional.\n All prisoners in New Jersey are banned from having hard-core pornographic material. The new law would have kept soft-core pornography out of the hands of sex offenders at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center at Avenel. Two inmates there, Michael Curtis and Richard Waterman, sued to keep the law from being enforced.\n A lawyer for the inmates argued that there is no good reason for the state to impose a law that violates the First Amendment and that the state has not shown that banning this type of material would be therapeutically helpful.\n The law was passed after legislators toured the facility in 1995 and found magazines such as Playboy in inmate hands. It provides punishments for violations that range from a verbal reprimand to the loss of recreation and television privileges for up to five days.\n In their lawsuit, the inmates said the law was so vague that it could be used to ban all kinds of materials, including newspapers with underwear ads, stories about sex scandals and even the Bible.
All models were at least 18 years old at the time of their performance. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement.
