MIM Notes # 222       Nov 15, 2000

Lawyers and law students needed!

Help fight censorship in  prisons

Department of Corrections around the country are illegally 
censoring political materials sent to prisoners. Jailhouse 
lawyers are fighting this on the inside, and they need the 
help of activists and lawyers on the outside.

The censorship includes many prisoners, especially those that 
are most political conscious. MIM and RAIL send political 
reading materials, letters and newspapers to prisoners through 
MIM's Free Books for Prisoners Program. Prisoners cannot 
receive these necessary political materials anywhere else. The 
attack on books, letters and newspapers amounts to state 
sponsored censorship of political ideas. The DOCs justify 
their censorship by touting "security threat" rhetoric. The 
reality is the materials we send do NOT advocate any type of 
illegal activity at this time and have actually been shown to 
decrease prisoner on prisoner violence. We at MIM and RAIL 
know that the real reasons the materials are censored: the 
positive effects revolutionary politics have on prisoners to 
stop the violence, build unity and a political ideology aimed 
at ending oppression.  The state has a whole army of 
prosecutors, armed goons and policy pigs to ensure that 
political ideas are censored. This is where we need help.

Things we need:

¥ help researching recent, relevant case law about censorship

¥ lawyers willing to take on cases for prisoners

¥ help writing a form letter to be sent to the prison after 
acts of censorship. The idea would be to force the prison to 
justify their actions or be taken to court by the prisoner.

¥ help educating others about the censorship

¥ creating materials to help prisoners fight these legal 
battles themselves.

If you can help with any of the above, or have other ideas, 
contact the MIM.