Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

[This issue of ULK was mailed to this subscriber in an envelope with the magazine "MIM Theory 11: Amerikkkan Prisons on Trial." When s/he writes of the article "Amerikkkan Prisons on Trial" s/he is likely referring to the magazine. Unfortunately the information given to prisoners about the actual mail that is being censored is so limited and obtuse that they often do not even know what they received.]

This correspondence is to inform you that once again this prison has selected to review to determine whether they would censor the March/April issue of Under Lock & Key based on the premise of an article titled "Amerika Prison on Trial." It has been under review now since 5/3/12. I have requested from the Prison Publication Review Committee to afford me with the regulation statute or law that the article violates. And yes, I will pursue the grievance process if the issue is ultimately censored. I would pursue a Civil Complaint, but this state requires a $150 filing fee, and I'm a lumpen-proletarian which should speak for itself.

However, I would like to know, have MIM(Prisons) received any other complaints of censorship or the withholding of Under Lock & Key by any political prisoners confined in the Illinois Department of Correction? The reason is that it would help a lot in the grievance process to see and compare whether it's just this prison that is practicing this policy?

Will pursue grievance process

The correspondence was disapproved in accordance with Title 15, Section 3136 as it pertains to Sections 3006 and or 3135:

Title 15, Section 3006, CONTRABAND, state in part:
(c)(5), Plans to disrupt the order, or breach the security, of any facility (such as riot, escape, strike, etc.)
(c)(7), Coded messages.

It violates regulations or local procedures:
Promotes gang activities [CCR, Title 15, Section 3023 (a)]
Third-party correspondence [PBSP DOM Addendum, Section 54010, Attachment 10 #33]

The disposition of the letter/mailing is as follows:
Other (describe): Confiscated by SHU ISU. The mailing is disallowed as per the CCR, Title 15, Sections 3006, 3135, and 3136.

They can't find record of any mail that was withheld from him still in mailroom

Robert H. Trimble, Warden (A)
Pleasant Valley State Prison
P.O. Box 8500
Coalinga, CA 93210

23 June 2011

Dear Warden Trimble,

This letter is concerning continued censorship of mail from MIM Distributors to Mr. XXX, who is a prisoner held at Pleasant Valley State Prison. The items in question are at least: (1) a parcel of mail sent Priority Mail via the United States Postal Service which was returned with "Unclaimed, Refused" stamped on the outside, and was unopened; (2) a newsletter titled Under Lock & Key issue 20 (May/June 2011), which was returned with "RTS" written on the envelope. I have enclosed a copy of this newsletter for your reference.

Neither MIM Distributors nor Mr. XXX were not notified of the reason for rejection of Under Lock & Key 20 or the Priority Mail envelope. However, according to CDCR's Department Operations Manual 2001,

"The CDCR Form 1819, Notification of Disapproval-Mail/Packages/Publications, shall be utilized by each institution/facility when incoming or outgoing mail/packages/publications addressed to or being sent by an inmate are withheld or disallowed. Additionally, in accordance with CCR, Subsection 3134(i), the CDCR Form 1819 informs the inmate of the reason, disposition, name of official disallowing the mail/package/publication, and the name of the official to whom an appeal can be directed. When inmate mail is disapproved based on the criteria established in CCR Section 3006 and 3135, DOM Subsection 54010.8.1, or DOM Section 54010.13 and 54010.14, a copy of the CDCR Form 1819 and the supporting document(s) (e.g., a photocopy of representative pages) shall be retained by each institution/facility for a minimum of seven years for litigation purposes."

Clearly you must still have the documentation supporting the censorship of this mail from MIM Distributors to Mr. XXX. Both MIM Distributors and Mr. XXX would be very interested to know why these publications were disallowed, and additionally why neither party were sent 1819 forms in the first place.

We look forward to your timely response concerning the overturn of this incorrect denial.

Sincerely,

MIM Distributors

CC: Affected parties

Robert H. Trimble, Warden (A)
Pleasant Valley State Prison
P.O. Box 8500
Coalinga, CA 93210

January 13, 2012

RE: June 30, 2011 letter from Correction Captain K.R. Nash regarding censorship of materials from MIM Distributors to Mr. XXX.

Dear Warden Trimble,

On June 30, 2011 a letter from Correction Captain K.R. Nash was sent to MIM Distributors regarding censorship of materials. The items in question are at least: (1) a parcel of mail sent Priority Mail via the United States Postal Service which was returned with "Unclaimed, Refused" stamped on the outside, and was unopened; (2) a newsletter titled Under Lock & Key issue 20 (May/June 2011), which was returned with "RTS" written on the envelope.

The reasoning Captain Nash gave for this censorship was a memorandum from Scott Kernan dated December 31 [sic], 2006, enacting a ban on mail from MIM Distributors. Such a determination is evidently illegitimate and unconstitutional for several reasons; MIM Distributors intends to appeal the censorship determination requesting it be reversed and the publication be distributed to the above mentioned prisoners.

The main reason why the censorship determination is illegitimate resides in the fact that it recalls a ban that in fact no longer exists.

Following the settlement agreement reached in Prison Legal News v. CDCR, your own Department Operations Manual was reviewed and corrected and it states now, at section 54010.21, that ?There shall be no 'Approved Vendor Lists' for any publication. The CDCR shall distribute a centralized list of disapproved publications that are prohibited as contraband. Publications that are enumerated on this centralized list are not allowed in any institutions. Local institutions may not add items to the centralized list.?

Consequently, on October 21, 2009, a memorandum was released to all Associate Directors, Wardens, Mail Room Supervisors, and Correctional Captains/Facility Captains, from Suzan L. Hubbard, Director of the Division of Adult Institutions. The memorandum states in part, ?A publication that does not appear on the centralized list must be reviewed for approval or denial on a case-by-case basis under CCR Sections 3006, 3134, 3134.1, and 3135. If a specific issue of an unlisted publication is denied because of a Title 15 violation, staff must issue a CDCR Form 1819, Notification of Disapproval-Mail/Packages/Publications (Rev-6/98) to each inmate who was an intended recipient of the publication. In addition, staff must complete and send a notification to the publisher, as described in section 3124.1(d).?

In 2008, MIM was not on the centralized list, and we have reason to believe we are not on the 2011 list either, for your determination makes no reference at all to it. Nor does the censorship determination states that a specific review of the particular publication has been conducted by your staff.

It is also important to highlight that your Department 2006 ban was in any case already unconstitutional, for the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear since 1989 that "Wardens may not reject a publication 'solely because its content is religious, philosophical, political, social[,] sexual, or . . . unpopular or repugnant,' or establish an excluded list of publications, but must review each issue of a subscription separately." Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401 (1989).

Another element to be considered here, is that appeals submitted in the past against similar censorship determinations have been resolved favorably to MIM Distributors. As late as July 12, 2011, Appeals Examiner K. J. Allen, an employee who investigates Director's Level Appeals, stated in an appeal decision to a prisoner, that ?while Maoist International Movement publications were previously disallowed based upon the direction of CDCR administration staff, the publications are currently not listed on the Centralized List of Disapproved Publications. Thus, a blanket denial on all such publications is inappropriate, and the institution must process the appellant's mail in accordance with applicable departmental rules/regulations. As with all publications, the appellant's mailing must be reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis in accordance with all departmental regulations. Unless this specific Maoist International Movement publication is considered contraband, as noted within the CCR 3006, the publication shall be issued to the appellant and/or allowed to be ordered and received.? (see IAB Case No. 1020001.)

MIM Distributors therefore appeals the above mentioned censorship determination and once again requests that the decision be reversed for all the reasons stated above. MIM Distributors also requests that the publication be delivered to the mentioned prisoners as soon as possible.

We?d also appreciate if you took any necessary, appropriate and advisable measure (such as internal investigations, proper employees? training and similar) to stop this illegal ban on all publications coming from MIM Distributors, and start determining the allowance of publications on an individual basis.

Finally, allow us to remind you that if you should determine a publication to be inadmissible at Pleasant Valley State Prison, you are legally obligated to provide to the sender and the intended recipient the name or identification of the publication, and the specific reason why it is being censored. This reason must be legitimately related to penological interested as laid out in Turner v. Safely, and reiterated in your Department Operations Manual (see DOM Section 54010.16).

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

Sincerely,

MIM Distributors

CC: Affected parties

Associate Warden R Fisher Jr.
Pleasant Valley state Prison
P.O. Box 8500
Coalinga, CA 93210-8500

May 4, 2012

RE: Your letter dated February 16, 2012


Dear Associate Warden Fisher,

This is in response to your letter dated February 16, 2012. Your letter from February 16 is in response to ours dated January 13, 2012. Our January 13 letter was written regarding a censorship determination that excluded materials sent from MIM Distributors to prisoner XXX, a prisoner held at Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP).

While we appreciate that you are not also attempting to uphold Captain Nash's use the defunct 2006 Kernan memo to ban MIM literature, we still take issue with multiple points raised in, or omitted from, your February 16 letter:

1. Correctional Captains are still citing a defunct 2006 memo as grounds for censorship of our literature.
2. Mail is being returned to us simply with "RTS" or "refused" stamped on the envelope, without including proper documentation of notification as outlined in your DOM.
3. MIM Distributors sent much mail into PVSP since Under Lock & Key No. 20 May/June 2011.

First, your February 16 letter states "In your letter, you did not specify if Captain Nash banned your publication or simply disallowed the May/June 2011 issue to be distributed." Yet in our January 13 letter, we listed two items which were returned to MIM Distributors, and then stated "The reasoning Captain Nash gave for this censorship was a memorandum from Scott Kernan dated December 31 [sic], 2006, enacting a ban on mail from MIM Distributors." MIM Distributors clearly contended that on June 30, 2011, Captain Nash illegitimately cited a 2006 ban on all MIM publications, in order to support the negative determination to exclude literature/publications by MIM Distributors.

Furthermore, as the Associate Warden of PVSP, you have plain access to the above mentioned letters, as well as to the censorship determination it refers to, and therefore you are responsible to read these documents, interpret them if necessary, and address the concerns we raised in relation to them. Instead, with the considerations contained in your letter you simply eluded the issues we brought to your attention, leaving us with no clear response.

Therefore, we have to recall here that the censorship determination is evidently illegitimate and unconstitutional for several reasons, all stated in the previous letter we sent you regarding this matter. As Associate Warden, Correctional Captains' actions are made under your umbrella of responsibility. If they are carrying out unconstitutional acts in your facility, you must remedy this problem, and can held liable. We clearly stated in our January 13 letter that this was happening, and you need to fix this problem.

Second, as we stated in our January 13 letter, according to CDCR's own policies and procedures, you must send notification to a sender of why their mail is being denied delivery to its intended recipients, and offer them a chance to appeal this decision. When mails is returned stamped "RTS" or "refused," this is not a reason for denial of delivery, and it is not an offer to appeal.

Lastly, we also have to contend your statement in your February 16 letter that "PVSP mailroom has not received any publications from MIM since May/June 2011." Our records indicate that between June 2011 and February 2012, MIM Distributors has sent in no less than 100 articles of mail to prisoners at Pleasant Valley State Prison, most of which was publications. Some of that mail has even been confirmed as received by prisoners. It is strange that you would make such an assertion when it is so far from reality.

Therefore, with this letter, MIM Distributors request:

1. that a thorough investigation be conducted into the handling of mail from MIM Distributors to prisoners held at PVSP, in general, and since June 2011 specifically;
2. that all personnel at PVSP be trained in agreement with the Associate Warden's determination that MIM Distributors is not a banned or restricted publisher;
3. and that all future mail from MIM Distributors to prisoners at PVSP be handled properly by PVSP mailroom staff in accordance with DOM sections 54010.16 and 54010.21.3.

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

Sincerely,

MIM Distributors

CC: Affected parties

Robert H. Trimble, Warden (A)
Pleasant Valley State Prison
P.O. Box 8500
Coalinga, CA 93210

CDCR, Office of the Ombudsman
1515 S Street, Room 124 South
Sacramento, CA 95811