In trying to overturn a policy that bars magazines such as Hustler and Playboy, two inmates have filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Department of Corrections.

On Tuesday, the lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis and seeks class-action status for the more than 20,000 state prisoners.

The lawsuit challenges a policy that went into effect on July 1 that bars adult magazines that depict nudity or sexual content.

According to the complaint, the policy could also prohibit sexually explicit letters and publications such as National Geographic.

The complaint also states that the new rule violates the plaintiffs' civil rights.

The American Civil Liberties of America in Indiana stated in the complaint, "the policy is written so broadly that it includes within its prohibitions such things as personal letters between prisoners and loved ones and much of the world's great literature and art."

53-year-old Ernest Tope, who is named as one of the plaintiffs in the complaint, stated that he can not subscribe to motorcycle magazine Easyriders because it contains partial nudity.

Tope is serving a life sentence at the Pendleton Correctional Facility near Anderson for murder.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Java Ahmed stated that agency officials have not yet reviewed the lawsuit and therefore had no comment.