Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

see 5/22/13 doc

Cynthia Bostic, Assistant Director
Support Services
4260 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4260

28 May 2013

To Ms. Bostic,

This letter is to request a review of the decision to censor the March/April issue of Under Lock & Key, No. 31. The notification sent from Fay Lassiter justified this censorship with the reason ?A Code.? It seems she is claiming that the newsletter promotes criminal activity or breaking the law. Every issue of Under Lock & Key states on page 2, ?We encourage prisoners to join these battles while explicitly discouraging them from engaging in any violence or illegal acts.? Unless you can find content contradicting this statement, I would argue that there is no justification for censoring this issue of Under Lock & Key.

We recently issued a records request from your office to demonstrate whether there is an independent review process and to justify the consistent decisions to uphold the censorship of our mail. We are still awaiting your response to this request issued over 2 months ago.


Thank you,

Eddie L. Pearson, Warden
Sussex I State Prison
24414 Musselwhite Dr.
Waverly, VA 23891
May 9, 2013

RE: Censorship of book mailed to Mr. XXX

Dear Warden Pearson,

Recently MIM Distributors was notified by the Mailroom Supervisor at Sussex I State Prison that the book titled A Curtain of Ignorance by Felix Greene was denied delivery to the above-named prisoner, who is held in your custody. This book was returned to MIM Distributors with a "Notice of Unauthorized Correspondence." There was no reason checked on this Notice to indicate what justified this censorship. Even though it was not checked, there was text written in the "Other" section, "material enclosed unauthorized." That is the only clue offered as to why this book was returned.

What is even more confusing is that Mr. xxx even had a Property Request Form approved by Ms. Bellamy PP for receipt of this book. The Personal Property Request Form containing Ms. Bellamy's signature was enclosed with an invoice when the book was mailed to Mr. XXX. I understand that all incoming mail is subject to inspection and approval per various DOC Operating Procedures, but it is still surprising that a book would be approved for Mr. xxx's property, but then rejected without cause.

Ultimately, I am writing this letter to:
1) Inquire as to why this book was denied delivery to Mr. XXXXXX, and
2) appeal this censorship in an effort to have this book approved for delivery to Mr. XXXXXX.

I appreciate your consideration, and anticipate your response.

Sincerely,


MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

CC: Affected parties

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

5 May 2013

Dear Director's Review Committee,

I am in receipt of a notice that Under Lock & Key No. 31 (March/April 2013) has been denied delivery to prisoners in the Texas Department of Criminial Justice. The reason cited for this censorship is Board Policy-03.91 Uniform Offender Correspondence Rules "Reason C. Page 6 contains and advocates a hunger strike." I am writing to appeal that censorship, and to ask that all copies of this publication which have been mails to prisoners within the TDCJ system without further delay.

Reason C states "Publications contians 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."

It is true that page 6 of ULK 31 contains a report on a hunger strike. However, prisoners have a right to read the newspaper, which includes news reports within Under Lock & Key. With all the mainstream media outlets reporting on the hunger strike in the Guantanamo Bay prison lately, is your Department also censoring these newspapers for Reason C?

We appreciate your assistance in this matter and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

CC: Affected parties

DAI Deputy Director
Department of Corrections
2729 Plaza Drive
Jefferson City, MO 65109

14 April 2013

RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key Issue 26

Dear Sir/Madam,

We have received notice from the staff at Crossroads Correctional Facility that Under Lock & Key, May/June 2012, Issue #26 has been censored by the Missouri Department of Corrections. This letter is to request an independent review of this decision.

This incident is part of what is becoming a pattern of the department censoring Under Lock &Key on the grounds that it promotes violence when there are articles that mention violence to criticize it. In my letter to you a month ago I pointed out that artwork criticizing the violence of the Newtown shooting was used to justify censorship. In this more recent case, ULK 26, the cited reason for censorship is a page with an article about the unjust shooting of Trayvon Martin. There is a piece of art with the article that depicts violence in an obvious criticism of the shooting of unarmed Black men. It is my contention that this criticism of the shooting of Trayvon Martin does not promote violence among prisoners at Crossroads Correctional Facility.

Once again, it seems the reviewer, who no doubt must review a lot of material in a day, mistakenly saw depictions of violence as promoting it, rather than reading the articles to see that they both served as a critique. I hope you agree and allow Mr. XXXXXX to receive Under Lock & Key Issue 26. Thank you for taking the time to review this matter.

Sincerely,