Fighting legal battles in Texas

My lawsuit about literature mailed to prisoners being denied under false pretext that it was written "solely" to cause prison disturbances was dismissed. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice had filed a motion for summary judgment. In my response, I proved that their claims that the literature was denied because it could cause fights or riots because it has the word "nigger" in it is contradicted by the facts that there are books in the prison libraries that have the word, and phrases and sentences of the same type in radio and television shows and newspapers and letters admitted to prisoners. The judge granted the defendant's motion, ruling the three publications named in my suit were "racially inflammatory."

Meanwhile, my anti-4 Stepping project has not produced any positive results yet. I have written to 8 Prison Ministries, sending each a write-up explaining that the TDCJ's use of a "lead row" prisoner is a vestige of the slave drivers and violates TDCJ rules and state law. Only two Ministries responded, and they said all they can do is pray for us. I wrote them back and let them know that is not all they can do -- and that "God don't like liars."

--A Texas Prisoner, May 1, 2004