Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

Please be advised that the following publication has been denied to all inmates housed in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections:

Under Lock & Key, #50, May/June 2016

The publication was denied for the following reasons:

Information on pages 17-18 incites inmates to demonstrate, which could cause a threat to inmates, staff or facility security.

If you would like to appeal this decision, you have 15 working days to set forth the reasons why the decision to deny the publicaiton was erroneous. Responses must be sent to:

Office of Policy, Grants and Legislative Affairs
PA Department of Corrections
1920 Technology Parkway
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050


To review PADOC publication policies, please see www.cor.pa.gov

I disagree with the impoundment of my publication Under Lock and Key issue March/April 2016 #49 that was impounded on May 20 2016.

The Super Bowl Halftime Report (page 10-11) isn't inflammatory becasue the incident(s) that took place at the super bowl has been publicized by the NPR news stateion and many other radio outlets which haven't canceled an issue yet.

Community education (page 17) isn't a threat.

Page 17 doesn't have gang signs and even if it does, they are not pictured in a disrespectful manner that would cause anger.

On May 24, 2016 the Literature Review Committee reviewed the subject matter content in question submitted by the institution. It was determined to contain subject matter that is inadmissible per Rule 33-501.401 (3)(m).

The department may prohibit admission of materials or publications if they are determined to be detrimental to the safety, security, order or rehabilitative interests of a facility or would create a risk of disorder at that facility. Chapter 33-501.401, requires that publications be reviewed and a determination made by one institution. The determination made by that institution affects all other institutions; however, as a result of an individual institution's determination, all impounded publications are reviewed and either approved or rejected by the department's Literature Review Committee as required by rule. Therefore, the final determination is made by the department's Literature Review Committee and not by an individual institution or warden.

All publications that have suspected gang related behavior are forwarded to the Security Threat Group unit for review an input to the Literature Review Committee.

It is not within the inmate's scope of responsibility to determine what is a violation of Ch. 33-501.401, determine a credible threat to the security of a compound/facility or decide of an impoundment/rejection is frivolous.

Based on the above information your administrative appeal is denied.

S. Milliken

Recently I got some material from the Strugglen Artists Association which I paid to have sent back. Please resend but note don't send more than 5 items at a time. Y'all sent 9 items that time and recently I found our I can only get 5 items at a time according to the mailroom supervisor. Did you get the Strugglen Artists Association material you all sent to me back? (as of 6/27/16, no, MIM Dist did not get the materials back)

Response: "unfortunately I do not know about march/april issue. I do know that all the above issues you mentioned have been rejected by LRC. I will contact property to confiscated the rejections mentioned above."

Your request for administrative review has been received in non-compliance with Chapter 33-501.401 (13)(a)(2). A copy of the Notice of Rejection or Impoundment of Publications was not attached. Therefore, your grievance is being returned without action."

ULK was rejected without a copy of notice of rejection or impoundment of publication being given to prisoner. Requests copy of this notice.

An investigation reveals the following:

Ms. Page in the mailroom was interviewed and stated that the mailroom does not keep record of inmates receiving the mentioned Magazine. Unless, it is impounded or rejected and she has no record of this.

Based on the foregoing, your Request for Administrative Remedy is DENIED.

Publication mailed to prisoner held at Carl Robinson Correctional Institution on 10/07/2015.
Postmarked 5/16/2016, the publication was returned to MIM Distributors from MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution.

ULK no 36 has been previously reviewed and rejected by the Literature Review Committee in Central Office.

The department may prohibit admission of materials or publications if they are determined to be detrimental to the safety, security, order or rehabilitative interests of a facility or would create a risk of disorder at that facility.

On February 16, 2014 the Literature Review Committee reviewed the questionable subject matter content in the publication that was submitted by the institution. It was determined to contain subject matter that is inadmissible per Rule 33-501.401(3)(g).

an issue with what is or is not noted on the DC5-101 form is not an Admissible Reading Material issue and should be initiated at the institutional level.

Based on the proceeding, your appeal is denied.

Attached is the rejection slip for ULK58 that was received on 2-15-16 and rejected 15 days later on 3-1-16. I appeal this rejection based on the three typed lines as follows:

1) Pgae 12: United struggle from within. This promotes constitutional rights, an arbitrary rejection is designed to deny all readers a fundamental consitiutional right.
2) Page 13: punished for reporting brutal assault during ramadan. This arbitrary reason for rejection serves only to hide police brutality.
3) page 14: fables and facts: fighting police brutality. This arbitrary reason for rejection serves only to top police brutality from being brought to light.

A prisoner knowing his fundamental constitutional rights and how to apply to himself and police can not be a legitimate threat to security, good order, or discipline of the correctional system or the safety of any person as stated in the rejection slip. To the contrary, knowledge creates safety.

Based on the above information I reject the rejection be overturned.

Department of Corrections
ATTN: Library Service Administrator
501 S Calhoun St
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500

RE: Impounding of Under Lock & Key No. 48

Dear Ms. Morrison,

This letter is in response to notifications received by prisoners throughout the Florida prison system regarding the impounding of Under Lock & Key No. 48. The purpose of this letter is to appeal this decisions and have the newsletters delivered. As you know, many prisoners throughout the Florida system were affected by this decision but because Florida refuses to follow it's own rules and the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process requirements and notify us each time mail is rejected. In this case we never received any notification, we only found out through prisoners who were notified. As you know from previous correspondence, we have an ongoing problem with Florida prisons failing to notify us of denial of our publications. I am once again insisting that the FDOC follow its own policies and respect the publisher's rights to Due Process under the Fourteenth Amendment (see Montcalm Publ'g Corp. v. Beck, 80 F.3d 105, 106 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 928 (1996)).

Regarding the reasons for denial, the vague "threat to security, good order, or discipline of the correctional system or the safety of any person" continues to be the justification. For ULK 48 the following pages were listed:
page 12: United Struggle from Within
page 13: Punished for Reporting Brutal Assault During Ramadan
Page 14: Fables and Facts: Fighting Police Brutality

The page 12 material that is “believed to be inadmissible” is so vague as to be impossible to challenge. The page in question, among other things, encourages prisoners to take up writing and studying and build a campaign for peace among prisoners. We require specific information about what exactly on this page is a threat to security. If anything, the activities of United Struggle from Within are building peace and security for prisoners.

The article about the Ramadan assault on page 13 is a news story about something that happened. In it we talk about the need to end religious discrimination and brutality. Surely the Florida DOC is not admitting that they want to promote these things? Or that religious discrimination is good for security?

Finally, on page 14 is an article about recent occurrences of police brutality and people's protests against this. It's not even about prisons! And again, it is reporting on the news. There's nothing in there that can justifiably be called a threat to security of the prison.
It appears that someone randomly picked out three pages in a row to cite to justify the censorship of this issue of ULK. There's nothing special about these pages, nor is there any information given about what on these pages is supposedly inadmissible.

The Supreme Court decision governing the First Amendment in prisons in the United States (Thornburgh, 490 U.S. at 416 n.14) is clear that regulations barring writings that "express 'inflammatory political, racial, religious or other views'" were not sufficiently "neutral" or "unrelated to the suppression of expression" to be legally allowable. The ongoing censorship of Under Lock & Key by the Florida DOC is a clear violation of the Thornburgh ruling as statements of political views alone can not be used to deny literature to prisoners. The employee who reviewed this publication and the Literature Review Committee may not agree with the content of the newsletter, but that does not justify censorship.

This letter is a formal request for appeal of these denials. Should you once again decide to uphold the censorship, we formally request that you provide a clear response regarding the reasons for denial of ULK48 to prisoners in Florida.

Sincerely,

I am in receipt of your letter regarding the impoundment of "Under Lock and Key #48." The impoundment was reviewed by our Literature Review Committee (LRC) on February 24, 2016 and was rejected.

Our actions are governed by Florida Administrative code (FAC) 33-501.401.Here is the pertinent part of FAC 33-501.401 (15)(a):

(15)(a) The publisher, mail order distributor, bookstore or sender may obtain an independent review of the warden's decision to impound a publication by writing to the library services administrator at 501 South Calhoun, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500 within 15 days following receipt of Form DC5-101, Notice of Rejection or Impundment of Publications. The request for review must be accompanied by:
1. A copy of teh completed Form DC5-101, Notice of Rejection or Impoundment of Publications; and
2. A copy of the impounded or rejected publication

We would need you to send a copy of the issue in question to me at the address below. You ahve already attached the DC5-101 form to your letter at hand. Upon receipt of a copy of the issue I will have it placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the LRC.

Sincerely,

Dean Peterson, Library Services Administrator
Florida Department of Corrections
501 South Calhoun St
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500

Your administrative appeal has been reviewed and evaluated. You appeal the impoundmenet of the following publication: ULK 48.

On February 24, 2016 the Literature Review Committee reviewed the subject matter content in question submitted by the institution. It was determined to contain subject matter that is inadmissible per rule 33-501.401(3)(m).

the department may prohibit admission of materials or publication sif they are determined to be detrimental to the safety, security order or rehabilitative interests of a facility or would create a risk of disorder at that facility. Chapter 33501.401, requires that publications be reviewed and a determination made by one institution. The determination made by that institution affects all other institutions; however, as a result of an individual institution's determination, all impounded publications are reviewed and either approved or rejected by the department's Literature Review Committee as required by rule. Therefore, the final determination is made by the department's Literature Review Committee and not by an individual institution or warden.

Based on the above information your administrative appeal is denied.

S. Milliken

Dear Publisher,

On February 24, 2016, the Literature Review Committee of the Florida Department of Corrections met. At that meeting, Under Lock and Key #48 was reviewed and rejected by a vote of the committee for the following reasons set forth in FAC 33-501.401(3):

(m) It otherwise presents a threat to the security, order or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.

Your request for a review of the decision was received and a meeting of the Literature Review Committee was held on April 12, 2016. an entire copy of the issue in question was secured and reviewed, and the original decision of teh committe was affirmed, meaning the book was rejected and will not be allowed into our institutions. This letter is sent in compliance with FAC 33-501.401 (15)(b) to notify you of the Committee's action.

Sincerely,

Dean Peterson, Library Services Administrator
Florida Department of Corrections
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500