Jessica Duran: Nude Photos Ride Fine Line Between Law and Good Common Sense

Jessica Duran: nude photos ride fine line between law and good common sense: When it comes down to legal matters, common sense can sometimes be thrown out the window with a single question, "Am I following law and policy?"

Mesa County, Colorado, resident Jessica Duran found out the hard way that mailing nude photos of herself to her husband, jailed for three months for parole violation, was not a particularly smart thing to do.

In the prison system, all mail is opened by detention officers. The policy is that if the materials enclosed are not appropriate, the envelope they came in is supposed to be sealed and sent back. In this case, the detention officers disobeyed that policy, showing the photos to other inmates and taunting Duran's husband with them.

Jessica Duran is now suing for emotional damages resulting from the incident to the amount of $100,000 and calling for dismissal of the officers involved.

In any other case, opening mail is a federal offense. In this case, a prisoner loses such civil rights for the safety and consideration of the prison officials and other inmates. The individuals involved with showing the photographs to others violated policy and for that, they could very well face termination, but Jessica Duran violated the policy as well by sending the photographs in the first place.

The rules for inmates receiving mail found on the Mesa County Sheriff's office web page plainly state: "Photographs are acceptable as long as they are no larger than 9"x11" and of appropriate content. Photos of nudity will not be allowed. A maximum of five photos will be accepted. As a reminder, Inmates may not exceed five photos in their possession at one time."

Recently, the 19 year-old star of 'High School Musical', Vanessa Hudgens, learned her lesson about erotic photography in the hands of others. In her case, she sent the photos to her boyfriend, Zac Efron, who co-starred with Hudgens in 'High School Musical'. Somehow those photos, too, ended up in hands of others who were not intended to see them. They spread like wildfire on the Internet, severely damaging Hudgen's reputation as a Disney starlet.

Other celebrities, such as Paris Hilton and Pam Anderson have faced similar embarrassments with sex tapes. If celebrities can't afford to keep their secrets safe, what can the average Joe or Jane do? The simplest answer is not to take them at all or be aware of the consequences if you do.

Beth Ann Chester, a health and physical education teacher, only supplied more evidence for her prosecution when she sent nude photographs via cell phone to her 14 year-old student whom she was having sex with. Another teacher, Melinda England, wasn't inappropriately involved with students, but was spreading racy pictures through cyberspace which landed her in hot water professionally and with parents of her students. Digital and photographic evidence is tangible and doesn't just disappear.

Jessica Duran could take a cue from Vanessa Hudgens, who told Seventeen magazine, "You're not as safe as you think you are, and you have to be aware of the people you're around. [My photos were] meant to be private." In Duran's case, this could all have been avoided has she kept in mind just whose hands those photos would be going through before getting to her husband and checked policy to see if such material was acceptable at all.

Other women often separated from their husbands, such as military wives, know the ropes all too well on sending nude photos of themselves to their husbands overseas. For one thing, it's not considered acceptable by military standards. Photos that may be considered offensive are frowned upon. Another thing, knowing our military can be in close quarters with little privacy, those photos end up being more of a liability to their own husbands than an asset. If any of their peers find the photos, they are up for all kinds of ribbing and ridicule. In the prison system, it is much the same way except the mail is monitored much more closely.

What about the $100,000 for psychological damages to Ms. Duran? It would appear that her husband may have been the one subjected to more psychological damage, living with taunting day in and out rather than the wife who did not have to suffer those afflictions for her cruel misjudgment. Perhaps he should be the one suing. If anyone is entitled to a lawsuit, wouldn't it be the one who had to suffer the abuse at the hands of the officers and inmates?

It seems as if common sense should trump the law, but in this case, it will be the law that wins again. The officers involved could now possibly be dismissed and if there is a court of common sense law, the claim to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a clear violation of policy and common sense will also be dismissed.