Ohio Rev. Code § 5120.427 : — PUBLIC WELFAREDEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION AND CORRECTION — Right to receive materials

(A) Each prisoner confined in a state correctional institution may receive a reasonable number of materials directly from the publishers or other distributors of those materials. With the prior approval of the warden of the state correctional institution in which a prisoner is confined, each prisoner also may receive a reasonable number of materials from a source other than the publisher or other distributor of those materials.

A prisoner's receipt and retention of materials is subject to security inspections conducted by the institution in which the prisoner is confined and to the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to section 5120.426 of the Revised Code. Subject to a contrary decision with respect to a material's nature by the publication review committee following a review pursuant to section 5120.428 of the Revised Code, a prisoner is not entitled to receive or retain any material that a warden or the warden's designee determines during the course of a security inspection to be a prohibited inflammatory material.

(B)
(1) For each state correctional institution, the warden or the warden's designee shall inspect each incoming material to determine whether the material is a prohibited inflammatory material or another type of material. The warden or the warden's designee shall not determine a material to be a prohibited inflammatory material solely on the basis of its appeal to a particular ethnic, racial, or religious audience.
(2) If the warden or the warden's designee determines that an incoming material is not a prohibited inflammatory material, the warden or the warden's designee shall cause the material to be promptly forwarded to the prisoner who is its intended recipient. If the warden or the warden's designee determines that an incoming material is a prohibited inflammatory material, the warden or the warden's designee shall cause the material to be withheld from the prisoner who is its intended recipient and promptly shall provide that prisoner with a written withholding notice containing all of the following:
(a) A general description of the withheld material;
(b) The reason why the material has not been forwarded to the prisoner;
(c) A statement of the prisoner's right under division (A) of section 5120.428 of the Revised Code to have the publication review committee review the withholding decision of the warden or the warden's designee.
(3) Within five working days after a prisoner's receipt of the withholding notice described in division (B)(2) of this section, the prisoner may submit to the warden a written request for a review of the withholding decision. If the prisoner fails to submit a timely written request for a review of that nature, the failure shall constitute the prisoner's acceptance of the withholding decision, and the warden or the warden's designee shall cause the material to be disposed of in the manner that the warden or the warden's designee considered to be most appropriate under the circumstances.

R.C. §5120.427

Effective Date: 11/3/1999.