Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

February 22, 2025

ATTN: Commissioner
Georgia Department of Corrections
300 Patrol Road
Forsyth, GA 31029


To the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections:

We are MIM(Prisons), a literary publisher and distributor of political materials to prisoners in the United States. We were recently made aware of materials we sent to prisoners at Coffee Correctional Facility in Nicholls, Georgia being returned without any notice or explanation. Upon attempting to contact both the warden at this facility as well as the prisoners whose mail was returned to us, we only received copies of the letters we sent with the word “BANNED” written on it, presumably by staff at Coffee CF. You will find scans of two of these returned envelopes enclosed herein. The prisoners in question are:

-- Prisoner A
-- Prisoner B
-- Prisoner C

We should not need to delve into laborious detail as to why these actions of the staff at Coffee CF are patently illegal and unconstitutional. Instead, we hope the following will suffice. First and foremost, these actions are in direct violation of the Georgia Department of Corrections policy 227.06 which states, under section IV.G.2, that “if a letter is totally or partially rejected, a written notice signed by the official authorizing the rejection and stating the reasons, shall be provided to the sender and the addressee via Attachment 1, Mail Items Rejection Form.” Furthermore, we would like to highlight that this policy is in place specifically because it is a violation of our constitutional due process rights as publishers of literary materials to not notify us. We would direct you to Montcalm Publishing Corporation v. Beck, 80 F.3d 105 (4th Cir. 1996) for further reading on this matter. We would also like to highlight that as a publisher, we have a First Amendment right to correspond with prisoners, which is violated when our mail is unjustly censored. See Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 407-08 (1989).

We are hoping that you can investigate this matter further in order to ensure that such acts of gross negligence and censorship are not allowed to proceed unchecked in the future and so that the prisoners listed above are allowed to receive the materials they are lawfully entitled to. We would also like to inform you that we are reaching out to several other organizations about this issue, including the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Office of Professional Standards as well as the United States Department of Justice. We look forward to hearing your response on this matter expediently so as to remedy the infringement of constitutional rights that has been committed by the staff at Coffee Correctional Facility.


Sincerely,

February 22, 2025

ATTN: Director
Office of Professional Standards
3121 Panthersville Road
Decatur, GA 30034


To OPS Director Mays:

We are MIM(Prisons), a literary publisher and distributor of political materials to prisoners in the United States. We were recently made aware of materials we sent to prisoners at Coffee Correctional Facility in Nicholls, Georgia being returned without any notice or explanation. Upon attempting to contact both the warden at this facility as well as the prisoners whose mail was returned to us, we only received copies of the letters we sent with the word “BANNED” written on it, presumably by staff at Coffee CF. You will find scans of two of these returned envelopes enclosed herein. The prisoners in question are:

--Prisoner A
-- Prisoner B
-- Prisoner C

We should not need to delve into laborious detail as to why these actions of the staff at Coffee CF are patently illegal and unconstitutional. Instead, we hope the following will suffice. First and foremost, these actions are in direct violation of the Georgia Department of Corrections policy 227.06 which states, under section IV.G.2, that “if a letter is totally or partially rejected, a written notice signed by the official authorizing the rejection and stating the reasons, shall be provided to the sender and the addressee via Attachment 1, Mail Items Rejection Form.” Furthermore, we would like to highlight that this policy is in place specifically because it is a violation of our constitutional due process rights as publishers of literary materials to not notify us. We would direct you to Montcalm Publishing Corporation v. Beck, 80 F.3d 105 (4th Cir. 1996) for further reading on this matter. We would also like to highlight that as a publisher, we have a First Amendment right to correspond with prisoners, which is violated when our mail is unjustly censored. See Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 407-08 (1989).

We are hoping that you can investigate this matter further in order to ensure that such acts of gross negligence and censorship are not allowed to proceed unchecked in the future and so that the prisoners listed above are allowed to receive the materials they are lawfully entitled to. We would also like to inform you that we are simultaneously reaching out to the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections as well as the United States Department of Justice regarding this issue. We look forward to hearing your response on this matter expediently so as to remedy the infringement of constitutional rights that has been committed by the staff at Coffee Correctional Facility.


Sincerely,

February 22, 2025

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Main
Washington, D.C. 20530


To Whom It May Concern:

We are MIM(Prisons), a literary publisher and distributor of political materials to prisoners in the United States. We were recently made aware of materials we sent to prisoners at Coffee Correctional Facility in Nicholls, Georgia being returned without any notice or explanation. Upon attempting to contact both the warden at this facility as well as the prisoners whose mail was returned to us, we only received copies of the letters we sent with the word “BANNED” written on it, presumably by staff at Coffee CF. You will find scans of two of these returned envelopes enclosed herein. The prisoners in question are:

--Prisoner A
--Prisoner B
--Prisoner C

We should not need to delve into laborious detail as to why these actions of the staff at Coffee CF are patently illegal and unconstitutional. Instead, we hope the following will suffice. First and foremost, these actions are in direct violation of the Georgia Department of Corrections policy 227.06 which states, under section IV.G.2, that “if a letter is totally or partially rejected, a written notice signed by the official authorizing the rejection and stating the reasons, shall be provided to the sender and the addressee via Attachment 1, Mail Items Rejection Form.” Furthermore, we would like to highlight that this policy is in place specifically because it is a violation of our constitutional due process rights as publishers of literary materials to not notify us. We would direct you to Montcalm Publishing Corporation v. Beck, 80 F.3d 105 (4th Cir. 1996) for further reading on this matter. We would also like to highlight that as a publisher, we have a First Amendment right to correspond with prisoners, which is violated when our mail is unjustly censored. See Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 407-08 (1989).

We are hoping that you can investigate this matter further in order to ensure that such acts of gross negligence and censorship are not allowed to proceed unchecked in the future and so that the prisoners listed above are allowed to receive the materials they are lawfully entitled to. We would also like to inform you that we are simultaneously reaching out to the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections as well as the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Office of Professional Standards regarding this issue. We look forward to hearing your response on this matter expediently so as to remedy the multiple infringements of constitutional rights that have been committed by the staff at Coffee Correctional Facility.


Sincerely,