Mauro

Jonathan Mauro appeals the district court’s dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim. The district court held that the Mari-copa County prison system’s policy prohibiting inmates from possessing “sexually explicit” materials, does not violate the First Amendment. The County defines “sexually explicit” material as that containing any graphic representation of frontal nudity. The district court held that the policy was constitutional both as applied to Mauro’s request for Playboy magazine and as applied to the receipt of any pictorial representations of frontal nudity. We have jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse, holding that the policy is unconstitutionally overbroad.

I.

In August 1993 Maricopa County adopted a policy prohibiting inmates from possessing “sexually explicit” materials. Appellant Jonathan Mauro, a pretrial detainee, sought to receive a subscription to Playboy while housed at one of Maricopa’s prisons and was prevented from doing so.

The policy defines sexually explicit materials as “personal photographs, drawings, and magazines and pictorials that show frontal nudity.” If a prisoner is found in possession of such items, they are confiscated and the…