Brokeback Mountain 'unsuitable' for prisoners

A prison officer in the US is to be punished for showing the gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain to inmates.

The Department of Correction in Massachusetts said the Oscar-winning film had been judged unsuitable because it contains graphic sexually explicit scenes.

The decision was not related to the fact it features a gay love affair, a spokeswoman said.

Diane Wiffin said the recreation officer played the movie on Thursday at MCI-Norfolk, a medium security prison south west of Boston.

But he had not followed the standard procedure for screening it for excessive violence, assaults on correctional staff, nudity or explicit sexual content, she added.

Ms Wiffin said a deputy supervisor came in as the film was running and asked if it had been checked in advance, to which the answer was no.

As there were only 20 minutes left to go the inmates were allowed to watch to the end.

“I want to make it clear, it wasn’t the subject matter – it was the graphic nature of the sexually explicit scenes,” Ms Wiffin said.

She would not reveal what disciplinary action the officer would face, adding that she did not know of other instances when a recreation officer had been punished for showing an inappropriate movie.

Ken Ferullo, vice-president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, told the Boston Herald that trying to prevent prisoners engaging in sexual activity was one of the toughest problems officers faced.

“We don’t need to foster that kind of atmosphere in there,” he said.

“It already exists. These guys are alone together, some of them forever.

“We’re already running ’Brokeback prison’.”

Brokeback Mountain stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys and their unexpected trysts on an isolated mountainside as they look after a flock of sheep.

It picked up three Oscars, although it lost out on to Crash in the best film category.