Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

Director's Review Committee
PO Box 99
Huntsville, TX 77342-0099

February 2, 2014

This letter is to request an appeal of the rejection of Under Lock & Key Nov/Dec 2013 N35. The notification we received, dated January 23, 2014, indicated that the reason for rejection was: "Publications contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to achieve a breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes or riots." And in the "remarks" section this information is added: "Reason C. Page 6 contains material of a racial nature."

Your notification does not specify what on page 6 is intended to achieve a breakdown of the prison. That page includes just two articles. The first is a continuation from an article from page 5 discussing the origins of racism and it's theoretical basis in nations in modern society. This article focuses on how to eliminate racism in the United States, and the world. The second article is about a South Carolina group of prisoners interested in uniting with others who are organizing for peace in prisons. There is absolutely nothing on that page that could be construed as racial, it is in fact the exact opposite: a page of information about how to overcome racism and achieve unity.

We are concerned that the reviewers of this publication did not actually read the page in question (or the publication at all). It is our contention that the reason for rejection would require content that can not be found within the pages of Under Lock & Key. Further, it is clear that the citation of page 6 indicates a complete lack of understanding of the actual content within this publication.

We request an appeal of this decision.

Sincerely,

MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

CC: Affected parties