Censorship in Washington

MIM received the letter below from the Washington Department of Corrections in response to our appeal of their censorship of an issue of MIM Notes we sent to a prisoner at the McNeil Island Corrections Center. The letter states that the publication is being allowed in, but the cover letter is being rejected because of its call for a USW leader in every prison, and its closing with the statement "Arms up, fists high!"

MIM contends that our work organizing prisoners for their legal rights does not constitute a valid or legal reason to censor our letters. And certainly a statement about raising arms in the air is not a threat to the prison. However, we do recognize that the true "penological objectives" encompass social control of the oppressed nations within u.s. borders. To do this the prisons need to suppress and censor speech that attempts to organize and educate prisoners, even if this work is legally permissible.

We will continue to fight this censorship in the state of Washington. To support this battle, send letters of protest to the address below and send a copy to MIM.

Letter from Washington State DOC:

Dear MIM:

Your publication was sent to DOC Headquarters for review. After review, it was decided the publication would be sent to the addressed offender.

Your cover letter is cause for concern in that you mention establishing a USW leader to coordinate your work in every prison in the state, and it closes with the statement, "Arms up, fists high!" Therefore, your cover letter was deemed a threat to legitimate penological objectives and rejected. The mailroom has been directed to continue to review each MIM publication, as is the practice with all other publications received by this facility, per Washington State Department of Corrections policy.

Sincerely,
Scott Frakes
Associated Superintendent
April 27, 3003

Letters of protest can be addressed to:
Scott Frakes
State of Washintgon DOC
PO Box 900
Steilacoom, WA 98388

More censorship in Washington
I just received what you sent me, I think is called "What is MIM" and it was rejected in the mail here at this institution. I am not going to send it out yet. I am going to appeal it because I know it ain't no threat to why it was rejected for. Also I noticed that these stupid, dumb dogs that work here are rejecting unnecessary stuff I get in the mail and I appeal every single one of my rejections until I can't appeal no more. But, being on this side of the wall, it's kind of hard because mail always gets denied and those idiots all work together and lie so I won't get my newsletter. MIM Notes was rejected too. You can see that these idiots that work here are out to get people and are rejecting whatever they can.

MIM Responds: We need all of our comrades behind bars to fight censorship with the vigilance of this prisoner. It is possible to beat censorship, in some cases, but only with appeals and sometimes lawsuits. If you are having a problem with censorship in prison, write to us for a copy of our censorship packet which helps explain how to fight back. And if you are on the outside and want to help fight censorship, we need people to write letters of protest. Current lists of censorship campaigns and addresses can be found on our web page at: http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext.


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