Shoe Bomber Challenges Prison Rules

DENVER – Al Qaeda member and Florence prison inmate Richard Reid (search) has moved his court challenge of federal prison rules to Denver.

Reid is serving a life sentence for trying to blow up an airplane with explosives hidden in his shoes in 2001. The Justice Department (search) has imposed restrictions on Reid and other terrorism-related prisoners they consider a threat to national security.

In a handwritten lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver last week, Reid wrote he has been kept in isolation in a cell with a window that does not let him see outside, and that his mail is inspected by authorities.

He said he has been denied access to religious materials, books, classes and correspondence courses, some television and radio stations, prison jobs, telephone calls with his aunts and uncles, daily showers, and his subscription to Time magazine.

Prosecutors say such restrictions are necessary because Al Qaeda members sometimes communicate through coded messages, but Reid and two other Florence inmates with suspected ties to Al Qaeda have filed court challenges saying too many of their rights have been restricted.

None of the cases has resulted in changes so far.

Reid originally filed a complaint in Boston to receive uncensored copies of Time, but a federal appeals court there said in May that it would not resolve the matter because Reid was being held in Colorado.

Florence's "Supermax" prison has housed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (search), Unabomber Ted Kaczynski (search) and 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Ramzi Yousef (search).