Court reinstates inmates' lawsuit over R-rated movies

By The Associated Press

07.30.02

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PITTSBURGH — A federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit by prisoners who claimed their rights were violated by a 1996 federal law banning R-, X- and NC-17-rated movies.

An attorney for the prisoners said prisons have the right to ban certain movies because of violence or sexual content, but that categorically banning R- and NC-17-rated movies violates the First Amendment.

Several prisoners, all in the Federal Correctional Institution at McKean, filed the suit several years ago, and the lawsuit was given class-action status for the prisoners only at McKean.

Language prohibiting federal funding of R-, X- and NC-17-rated movies in prisons was included as an amendment to a 1996 spending bill. The amendment is known as the Zimmer Amendment because its sponsor was U.S. Rep. Richard A. Zimmer, R-N.J.

Zimmer said at the time that prisons should be places of punishment and deterrence and said the government must spend funds wisely, "not using them on amenities that have little bearing on institutional security."

Pittsburgh attorney Jere Krakoff said prisoners have First Amendment protections and the policy developed from the law prohibiting R-rated movies is too broad.

"I think one of the reasons why this challenge is being made is there are a lot of legitimate, cultural movie productions and prisoners should be able to see them," Krakoff said.

He cited movies such as "Amistad" and "Schindler's List" as representative of movies having artistic, political and educational value and which don't jeopardize security.

A panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week reversed a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which had dismissed the suit.

Edward Himmelfarb, who argued the case for the Department of Justice, declined comment on the decision.

He said the Department of Justice has about 40 days to decide to decide how to proceed. The department could ask for a rehearing before the panel or a hearing before the full court, or it could simply argue the matter in district court.

Traci Billingsy, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons, declined comment on the ruling.

The appeals court panel said the district court didn't thoroughly consider what penological interest was served by banning R- and NC-17-rated films.

"The government is going to have to come forward now with an explanation on what purpose is being served," Krakoff said.

"What we're saying is there are R-rated movies and R-rated movies and obviously, some R-rated movies might implicate some interest in the state," Krakoff said.

Krakoff said the suit doesn't say prisoners have a right to see movies in the first place, but since a movie program exists, the government has to show why prisoners can't see certain movies.

"Basically, they're relegated to watching what children watch," Krakoff said.

The suit does not deal with X-rated movies which were prohibited in federal prisons before the 1996 law.

"We haven't said a word at all about X-rated movies," Krakoff said.