A Michigan man who pleaded guilty to bank robbery filed a lawsuit against Gov. Rick Snyder alleging a jail's pornography ban is cruel and unusual punishment.

ADVERTISEMENT

Kyle Richards, 21, of Fraser, who has been in the Macomb County Jail since his bank robbery arrest in January and pleaded guilty to the crime Thursday, filed a five-page handwritten lawsuit June 10 in U.S. District Court in Detroit asking a judge to rule for jail inmates to be allowed to possess pornography as well as TVs, radios and video games, The Detroit News reported Monday.

"Such living conditions have been used as a method of 'psychological warfare' against prisoners, in order to both destroy the morale of inmates and break the spirit of individuals," Richards wrote in the suit.

John Cordell said state prisons allow inmates to possess pornographic materials including Playboy and Penthouse magazines.

The pornography ban at the Macomb County Jail is a county policy, officials said.

Richards has filed several lawsuits in federal court since last year, including at least three tossed by judges who called them frivolous.