ALBANY – The state is cracking down on a bizarre growing interest in incest porn among jailed convicts, The Post has learned.
Noting a flurry of inmate requests for smut magazines filled with pictures and stories of incest, state prison officials moved to ban anything dealing with the taboo topic.
“If we see an increase in requests for a certain type of publication that is illegal to possess or promotes something that is illegal, we ban it,” said Department of Correctional Services spokesman James Flateau.
Prison rules already outlaw child pornography and smut depicting bestiality, sadism, masochism and necrophilia.
The new regulation on incest porn will take effect mid-March.
Any newspaper, book, or magazine – from Newsweek to Playboy – requested by an inmate must be approved by a review committee at that prison.
Under state regulations, publications in prison are considered obscene and unacceptable if they do not meet contemporary community standards and lack serious “literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
Ira Glasser, executive direction of the American Civil Liberty Union, said inmates should have access to any publications that are legal on the outside.
“Maybe you should ban the Bible in prison, too,” Glasser said sarcastically. “Many of the things New York bans are in the Bible. First place I saw the word bestiality was in the Bible.”
But even some inmate rights activists say they can’t get too worked up over the state not allowing publications dealing with perverse sexual conduct like incest.
“It may be a violation of someone’s First Amendment rights, but hey, get your [kicks] another way,” said Robert Gangi, president of the Correctional Association of New York.
And inmates can always still turn to the classics – Playboy and Penthouse are on the prison list of acceptable publications.
“Naked pictures are OK,” Flateau said.