LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a challenge brought by a group of Kentucky death row inmates to rules governing how and when pastors visit them at the Kentucky State Penitentiary.

U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell concluded that prison officials temporarily suspended pastoral visits at the maximum security prison in Eddyville for both security reasons and to bring the prison’s regulations in line with Kentucky Department of Corrections regulations.