diff -r a8f8ada7825c Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py
--- a/Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py	Fri Jun 12 16:48:30 2015 -0400
+++ b/Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py	Sat Jun 13 17:10:55 2015 +1200
@@ -78,7 +78,8 @@
         self._poll = self._reader.poll
 
     def put(self, obj, block=True, timeout=None):
-        assert not self._closed
+        if self._closed:
+            raise OSError("handle is closed")
         if not self._sem.acquire(block, timeout):
             raise Full
 
diff -r a8f8ada7825c Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py
--- a/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py	Fri Jun 12 16:48:30 2015 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py	Sat Jun 13 17:10:55 2015 +1200
@@ -743,6 +743,13 @@
         # Windows (usually 15.6 ms)
         self.assertGreaterEqual(delta, 0.170)
 
+    def test_close(self):
+        q = multiprocessing.Queue()
+        q.close()
+        self.assertTrue(q._closed)
+        self.assertRaises(OSError, q.put, "ok")
+        self.assertRaises(OSError, q.get)
+
 #
 #
 #