Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

Deputy Director, Division of Operations
Virginia Department of Corrections
P.O. Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261
September 12, 2014
Dear Deputy Director,

I am writing to appeal the censorship of several publications which were allegedly sent from MIM Distributors to prisoners held by the Virginia Department of Corrections (VDOC). I say ?allegedly? because I am not aware of when or to whom these publications were mailed. Unfortunately the letter we received to notify us of the censored publications does not contain this information.

With this letter, I would like to request:
1) An independent review of the decision to censor all the items listed on the enclosed letter from your Department dated August 29, 2014.
2) In case of negative determination, to be notified of precisely why the Department has decided to uphold the censorship of the listed publications.
3) To be notified of (a) when these publications were received, (b) at what facilities, and (c) to whom they were addressed.

I apologize in the delay in getting this appeal letter out to you. I understand that my letter of appeal is supposed to be sent within 15 calendar days from the date on the disapproval letter. Unfortunately, although the letter to MIM Distributors notifying of disapproval is dated August 29, 2014, the envelope is not postmarked until September 2, 2014. I hope you will take this into consideration.

Sincerely,


CC: Affected parties