U.S. judge asked to bar book

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Department of Correction wants a judge to bar an attorney from giving an inmate a book that sets out accreditation standards for prisons.

The book, the American Correctional Association’s Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions, is the subject of a federal lawsuit by the inmate, convicted Rohypnol rapist Steven Sera.

Sera, who is serving time at the East Arkansas Regional Unit near Brickeys, twice tried to order the book, but it was intercepted each time by prison staff members, who say the information it contains on security procedures could be used to facilitate escapes or other mischief. Sera disputes that, and he claims he has a right to the book under the First Amendment.

In a court filing last week,Sera’s attorney, John Wesley Hall Jr. of Little Rock, notified the department that he has a copy of the book and will provide it to Sera unless a court orders otherwise.

In response, an attorney for the department on Monday asked U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes to issue such an order.

“The publication counsel for Plaintiff is seeking to deliver to his client is the very publication at the center of this lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General Christine Cryer said in a court filing Monday.

She noted that the book is considered “contraband” and that Sera would be subject to disciplinary action if it were found in his possession. Holmes had not ruled on the request late Monday.

Sera, 52, was convicted in Bradley County in 1998 of charges including rape, kidnapping, sexual abuse and attempted rape and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors said he drugged two women with the sedative Rohypnol, which is banned in the United States, and had sex with at least one of them while she was unconscious.

The book Sera wants lists more than 400 practices, governing issues such as security, inmate rights, health care and sanitation, that prisons must comply with to be accredited by the Alexandria, Va.-based association. All Arkansas prisons have been accredited since 1997.

Sera’s lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, claims the department violated his rights by denying him access to the book and disciplining him after he tried to order it a second time. He wants Holmes to order the department to pay damages. The case has not been set for trial.