Publication Review Committee
C/O Department of Corrections Correspondence Unit
PO Box 41118
Olympia, WA 98504-1118
June 25, 2016
RE: Ongoing illegal censorship of at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center
Dear Publication Review Committee,
On April 14, 2016, CC'ed your office on a letter to Superintendent Uttecht of Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. We did not receive a response from your office to this letter, even though it contained information directly pertaining to your office.
I am writing to you with three concerns.
1. What is the status of the censorship of the book Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlan? This book was mailed to Mr. xxx in October 2015. Superintendent Uttecht informed us that it is presently being reviewed by the Publication Review Committee. What is the status of this review?
2. There is ongoing illegal censorship at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. In April 2016 we informed Superintendent Uttecht that we (MIM Distributors, the publisher and sender of this book) were not notified of the censorship of Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlan when it was censored by Coyote Ridge mailroom staff. Superintendent Uttecht's response was to write a letter saying the proof of notifiying the sender was attached, yet failed to enclose any attachments with his letter to us.
There was recently another similar incident at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. A publication titled Under Lock & Key No. 50 (May/June 2016) was censored in this facility. The intended recipient was Mr. xxx. MIM Distributors was not notified by the facility mailroom that this newsletter was being censored. We only heard about it from the prisoner.
There are no doubt countless other incidents of censorship that were not carried out in line with constitutional and state law, or DOC procedures. Unfortunately since we are not being notified by the facility of these incidents, we have no way of knowing how many have occurred.
3. The reason cited for the censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 50 (May/June 2016) is unfounded and also an illegal reason for censorship. An intended recipient of this newsletter informed us, the sender, of the reason provided by CRCC mailroom staff for this censorship. The reason given was “Entire tone of paper seeks to gain opinions/actions against the criminal justice system. Encourages/uses derogatory remarks against law enforcement in statements such as 'pigs' and 'fuck the police' (Pages 4 & 8). This paper also calling for 'organized; strikes/movements against the prison system. Pages 17 & 18.” We apologize if this reason cited is inaccurate. Unfortunately it has been provided to us by a third party, since we were not notified of the censorship as I explained above.
As you can see, the “reasons” cited for censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 50 are vague and not directly related to the penological interests of the institution. We believe there is much relevant case law to support our claim that this publication is being censored for political reasons, in direct opposition to protections of the United States Constitution.
"Wardens may not reject a publication 'solely because its content is religious, philosophical, political, social[,] sexual, or . . . unpopular or repugnant,' or establish an excluded list of publications, but must review each issue of a subscription separately." Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401
“When a prison regulation restricts a prisoner’s First Amendment right to free speech, it is valid only if it is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.” Lindell v. Frank, 377 F.3d 655, 657 (7th Cir. 2004), citing Turner v. Safely, 482 U.S. 78, 89 (1987).
"Prison authorities cannot rely on general or conclusory assertions to support their policies." Walker v. Sumner (9th Cir. 1990) 917 F.2d 382, 385
"Unsupported security claims couldn't justify infringement on First Amendment rights." Crofton v. Roe (9th Cir. 1999) 170 F.3d 957
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140
CC: Affected parties
Superintendent: Jeffrey A. Uttecht
Coyote Ridge Corrections Center
1301 N Ephrata Ave
PO Box 769
Connell, WA 99326