In 2008, a Nebraska prison inmate sued the state, alleging that corrections officials had improperly confiscated adult magazines to which he subscribed, including Hustler and Maxim. The federal lawsuit later was dropped at the request of the inmate, Raul Calderon.

In other states, bans on porn also have been met with lawsuits, as well as claims that such restrictions are overly broad, ruling out even artwork and some novels. But courts generally have upheld the bans if they are based on a sound policy goal and are not arbitrary.

Three years ago, a convicted murderer in Connecticut filed a lawsuit claiming that guards used a ban in that state to deny him an instructional book, “The Atlas of Foreshortening,” which shows how to draw the human form utilizing nude models.

In 2011, a Michigan inmate claimed such a ban was “cruel and unusual punishment” and that denying erotic materials to him amounted to sensory deprivation.

A judge dismissed the lawsuit, calling it “absurd.”

In fighting off a lawsuit in 2009, the Pennsylvania corrections department presented statistics that indicated prison assaults and sexual misconduct cases dropped after a ban was imposed. The State Supreme Court tossed out the lawsuit.