Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

Major K. Chris, Chief of Security
Red Onion State Prison
PO Box 1900
Pound, VA 24279

28 September 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

It has recently come to our attention that mail from MIM Distributors is being censored at Red Onion State Prison. We just received documentation of censorship that you authorized in May on the basis of Division Operating Procedure 852, Section 852-7.8 #7 & #13. From what we have been told by prisoners on our mailing list all of our mail is being rejected with the justification that it is ?STG-related? material.

We are requesting a copy of the Division Operating Procedure so that we can further address this matter. In addition, if it is true that the cited sections refer to our mail being related to a Security Threat Group, we are also requesting a justification from the department for this accusation.

We look forward to your response,

Publication Review Committee
Virginia Department of Corrections
6900 Atmore Drive
PO Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261-6963

15 October 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

This letter is to repeat the requests that we had sent to Major K. Chris last month. Major Chris responded by saying that we should refer any inquiries to your office (see enclosed). We have not received a copy of your Division Operating Procedure or any explanation for the censorship that MIM Distributors faced earlier this year. We have enclosed some of the censorship notices that we have received so far.

We look forward to your response,

Media Review Committee
Auburn Correctional Facility
PO Box 618
Auburn, NY 13024

October 3, 2007

Dear Sir/Madam:

This letter is to appeal the decision to censor copies of Issue 4 of the New Afrikan Maoist Party?s Party Bulletin. The reason given for the censorship was the same reason given for a number of recent censorship incidents of Our own publication and the publication of other organizations. The notice cites the ?Regulations? at the bottom of page 14 onto page 15-16 as the justification that the publication promotes lawlessness.

The ?Regulations? section does not mention law enforcement or prison personnel. The regulations are internal rules for the operation of one of Our organizations. They have nothing to do with prisons or prison personnel, so it is unclear to me how this can be used as evidence for the accusation made.

Not only does the publication in question not promote lawlessness or disobedience towards prison personnel, but We actively advocate to prisoners on Our mailing list to follow the rules and not get into fights. In fact, if you read the previous section of the article in question entitled ?Rules,? you will see that in Rule 2 We forbid members from engaging in any criminal behavior including drug use and involvement in gangs. We promote the same behavior among Our supporters everywhere, including within Auburn Correctional Facility.

I hope this letter clarifies Our position and allows prisoners at Auburn to receive their copies of the Party Bulletin 4, and subsequent issues. If you have any questions or determine that this appeal is inadequate to reverse the decision to censor Us, please let Us know immediately so that We can continue to address this matter.

Thank you,

Major K. Chris, Chief of Security
Red Onion State Prison
PO Box 1900
Pound, VA 24279

28 September 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

It has recently come to our attention that mail from MIM Distributors is being censored at Red Onion State Prison. We just received documentation of censorship that you authorized in May on the basis of Division Operating Procedure 852, Section 852-7.8 #7 & #13. From what we have been told by prisoners on our mailing list all of our mail is being rejected with the justification that it is ?STG-related? material.

We are requesting a copy of the Division Operating Procedure so that we can further address this matter. In addition, if it is true that the cited sections refer to our mail being related to a Security Threat Group, we are also requesting a justification from the department for this accusation.

We look forward to your response,

Department of Corrections
OCO Deputy Secretary
PO Box 41100
Olympia, WA 98504

10 September 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

We received five mail rejection notices from C. Hardy at Stafford Creek Corrections Center, which stated that the rejected materials had been ?Sent to Headquarters for Review.? Therefore, we are addressing this petition to you in hopes of reversing the decision. The materials were five issues of MIM Notes, the newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (see notices enclosed).

For all of these newspapers, none of the 34 reasons for rejecting mail were checked on the rejection notice. Reasons were given in the ?Comments? section by staff member C. Hardy. Two of the issues were rejected for ?Inciting to fight the justice system.? Actually, the pages cited have a section entitled ?Join the fight against the injustice system.? The first suggestion for things to do to help is to write letters like this in an effort to put an end to the widespread censorship problems in this country. Other suggestions are book drives, petitioning and providing people with housing and jobs after their release from prison. All of this work is put in the context of a larger campaign to end the system of injustice that in MIM?s view is systematic. This point of view is a federally protected political viewpoint and none of the actions suggested in this article threaten the safety of people at SCCC in any way.

Two of the newspapers are rejected for the alleged reason that they ?refer to security threat groups.? Curiously, page 11 of Issue #261 happens to feature a long article by a prisoner in Clallam Bay in Washington about censorship and other problems. The author lists a number organizations that he has contacted regarding these matters. I don?t know if you would consider any of those groups a security threat group, but there seems to be an ulterior motive of preventing prisoners in the WA DOC from reading information that might help them fight their own censorship battles.

The second paper censored for referring to a ?security threat group? is issue #343, pg. 4. On this page there is an article that mentions MIM, the FBI and the Democratic Party. Again, it is unclear which of these groups is considered an STG by the administration. But I would argue that it is hard to pick up an issue of any major newspaper these days that does not mention groups such as al-Qaeda as part of their daily news reporting. Al-Qaeda is on the U.S. Terrorist Organization list. Yet it doesn?t seem within the Department?s mandate to maintain the safety and the security of its facilities to censor these media for mentioning such groups.

The final issue is rejected for the cited reason of, ?full frontal nude picture.? Indeed that is a factually correct description. Yet the picture is of Vietnamese children who were napalmed by the U.S. military. The context of the image is clearly political and not sexual. As per the Department?s mail policy, ?sexually explicit? must be ?intended for sexual gratification.?

We hope that in review of these matters you will deem it appropriate to allow prisoners at SCCC to receive these issues of MIM Notes.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter,

MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140


cc: Superintendent Dan Pacholke, Stafford Creek
XXXXXX XXXXXX

10 September 2007

Dear Sir/Madam,

We received five mail rejection notices from C. Hardy at Stafford Creek Corrections Center, which stated that the rejected materials had been ?Sent to Headquarters for Review.? Therefore, we are addressing this petition to you in hopes of reversing the decision. The materials were five issues of MIM Notes, the newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (see notices enclosed).

For all of these newspapers, none of the 34 reasons for rejecting mail were checked on the rejection notice. Reasons were given in the ?Comments? section by staff member C. Hardy. Two of the issues were rejected for ?Inciting to fight the justice system.? Actually, the pages cited have a section entitled ?Join the fight against the injustice system.? The first suggestion for things to do to help is to write letters like this in an effort to put an end to the widespread censorship problems in this country. Other suggestions are book drives, petitioning and providing people with housing and jobs after their release from prison. All of this work is put in the context of a larger campaign to end the system of injustice that in MIM?s view is systematic. This point of view is a federally protected political viewpoint and none of the actions suggested in this article threaten the safety of people at SCCC in any way.

Two of the newspapers are rejected for the alleged reason that they ?refer to security threat groups.? Curiously, page 11 of Issue #261 happens to feature a long article by a prisoner in Clallam Bay in Washington about censorship and other problems. The author lists a number organizations that he has contacted regarding these matters. I don?t know if you would consider any of those groups a security threat group, but there seems to be an ulterior motive of preventing prisoners in the WA DOC from reading information that might help them fight their own censorship battles.

The second paper censored for referring to a ?security threat group? is issue #343, pg. 4. On this page there is an article that mentions MIM, the FBI and the Democratic Party. Again, it is unclear which of these groups is considered an STG by the administration. But I would argue that it is hard to pick up an issue of any major newspaper these days that does not mention groups such as al-Qaeda as part of their daily news reporting. Al-Qaeda is on the U.S. Terrorist Organization list. Yet it doesn?t seem within the Department?s mandate to maintain the safety and the security of its facilities to censor these media for mentioning such groups.

The final issue is rejected for the cited reason of, ?full frontal nude picture.? Indeed that is a factually correct description. Yet the picture is of Vietnamese children who were napalmed by the U.S. military. The context of the image is clearly political and not sexual. As per the Department?s mail policy, ?sexually explicit? must be ?intended for sexual gratification.?

We hope that in review of these matters you will deem it appropriate to allow prisoners at SCCC to receive these issues of MIM Notes.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter,


MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140


cc: Superintendent Dan Pacholke, Stafford Creek
XXXXXX XXXXXX