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Warden ordered Iowa officer not to turn off movies

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January 14th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – State lawyers are admitting that an Iowa prison warden ordered a guard to stop shutting off movies that she felt had inappropriate violent and sexual content for inmates. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office released its response Monday to a lawsuit brought by Kristine Sink, a correctional officer at the Fort Madison prison.

Sink’s lawsuit describes how she’d complained about the practice of allowing mentally-ill sex offenders and murderers to watch programs with graphic violence and sex. She says superiors dismissed complaints about the movies, which aroused inmates and made them hostile.  The response denies that Sink’s superiors retaliated against her and failed to protect her safety. But it admits Warden Nick Ludwick ordered Sink in 2011 to “discontinue shutting off movies that have been screened and deemed appropriate for viewing.”