MADISON, Wisconsin: All Jevon Jackson wanted was to hang a picture of actress Jennifer Aniston in his room.
But because his room was a cell at a Wisconsin prison, the warden would not allow it. Jackson took his case to U.S. court, where a judge ruled Wednesday in favor of the prison — but offered the inmate advice on how to get a picture of the TV and movie star.
Jackson, a murderer, had ordered a commercial picture of Aniston, who starred on the television series "Friends."
The prison has a policy against inmates receiving, and thus displaying, commercially published photographs. It adopted the policy in 2006 because of the increasing volume of mail — some 1,500 pieces of mail a day, according to prison officials.
The commercially published photos often contained nudity or other forbidden content such as gang symbols, officials told the court.
Jackson, 30, argued that it did not make sense to disallow commercial photographs but at the same time allow magazines that could contain hundreds of images.
Inmates are allowed to display pictures of non-celebrity friends and relatives, as well as photos published in magazines. Neither Jackson nor the prison said there was anything inappropriate about the photo he wanted to display.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the prison's policy was reasonable — and Jackson could always get around it by ordering magazines.
Even though Aniston may not be in every issue he subscribed to, the court said, "the likelihood of an eventual photograph of her is sufficiently high to suffice as an alternative."
A spokesman for the state prison system referred questions to the state attorney general's office, which handled the case. A spokesman for that department did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
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