Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

(c) It contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes, riots, or security threat group activity.

Remarks: Reason c: Page 3 advocates a hunger strike

Director's Review Committee
Bill Clements Unit
9601 Spur 591
Amarillo, TX 79107-9606

August 7, 2015

RE: Illegal censorship of mail at Bill Clements Unit to Mr.

Dear Director's Review Committee,

On January 22, 2015 I mailed you a letter on this same problem. I never received a response from your office.

We were recently made aware that mail we have been sending to the above named prisoner is being withheld and denied. The above named prisoner has been sending us documentation on this censorship. But our office has not been notified by the mailroom staff at Clements Unit directly.

Two specific items that we are aware of this happening with are
Under Lock & Key No. 27 (July/August 2012), mailed via First Class mail with USPS on 6/2/15
and
Under Lock & Key No. 35 (November/December 2013), mailed via First Class mail with USPS on 3/31/15
There may be additional items which have been withheld and denied in this manner which we are not aware of.

MIM Distributors was not sent a Publication Receipt and Course of Action Form DOC0211 regarding this incident.

Per Texas DOC policy (BP-03.91 (rev.3)): "V. B. Any offender, other correspondent, or sender of a publication may appeal the rejection of any correspondence or publication. They may submit written evidence or arguments in support of their appeal. An offender or a correspondent may appeal the placement of the correspondent on the offender?s negative mailing list. An offender or a correspondent may appeal to the DRC for reconsideration of the negative mailing list placement after six months." Based on this we formally request an appeal of this censorship.

In your review of this censorship, please note that your own policy (BP-03.91 (rev.3)) states: "Publications shall not be rejected solely because the publication advocates the legitimate use of offender grievance procedures, urges offenders to contact public representatives about prison conditions, or contains criticism of prison authorities." In order to reject these publications for content, per your policy, you must demonstrate that the publication "contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes, riots, or STG activity".

As you are certainly aware, the U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that both the sender and the prisoner have a right, under the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, to receive notice and an opportunity to be heard when prison administrators or staff prevent the sender’s expressive materials from reaching their intended recipients (Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S.396. 94 S.Ct 1800, as reaffirmed on the point by Turner V. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987) and Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401 (1989) and Montcalm Publ'g Corp. v. Beck, 80 F.3d 105, 106 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 928 (1996)). In plain and striking contradiction with these principles, neither the prisoners, nor MIM Distributors were notified of the censorship decision or actually of any decisions that the Mailroom staff has made with regard to the publications listed above.

In refusing to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard to both the prisoners and the publisher (MIM Distributors), under local policies and/or practices, prison administrators and staff violated clearly established constitutional law and acted under color of state law for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

In addition, the practice of holding publications and/or letters for an indefinite time without providing notice of any determination is certainly unconstitutional, as it does not satisfy the obligation that the prison administration has to provide both the sender and the recipient with a decision in a reasonable time and ultimately frustrates the right that both the sender and the prisoner have to appeal a negative determination.

Sincerely,



CC: Affected parties

Jennifer XXXXXX, Program Supervisor
Mail System Coordinators Panel
PO Box 99
Huntsville, TX 77342-0099
October 25, 2015

RE: Continued censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 27 and No. 35 to Mr. xxx

Dear Supervisor XXXXXX,

This letter is in response to yours from September 3, 2015. Thank you for providing some insight into why our mail is being returned to us with no explanation of censorship.

In your letter you state that Under Lock & Key No. 27 was denied by the Director's Review Committee on September 9, 2012. With this letter I have enclosed a copy of the Director's Review Committee decision to REVERSE the censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 27 on September 4, 2012. Please send me the documentation you have which supposedly upholds the censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 27 because we have never seen it.

In your letter you allude to lists which contain Director's Review Committee decisions on publications. You allude to an Approved Publication List, and I assume there is a Disapproved Publication List based on the information provided about the censorship process in TDCJ. With this letter I would like to respectfully ask for these lists to be sent to me at the address above.

Regarding these lists, you state that once the Director's Review Committee renders a decision on a publication that it can never be appealed. However, according to Texas DOC Policy (BP-03.91 (rev.3)) (which I also included in my last letter of August 7, 2015):

"V. B. Any offender, other correspondent, or sender of a publication may appeal the rejection of any correspondence or publication. They may submit written evidence or arguments in support of their appeal. An offender or a correspondent may appeal the placement of the correspondent on the offender's negative mailing list. An offender or a correspondent may appeal to the DRC for reconsideration of the negative mailing list placement after six months."

In refusing to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard to both the prisoners and the publisher (MIM Distributors), under local policies and/or practices, prison administrators and staff violated clearly established constitutional law and acted under color of state law for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

In summary, with this letter I am requesting:
1. You stop censoring Under Lock & Key No. 27, because it was already approved by the Director's Review Committee on September 4, 2012.
2. You allow us to appeal the censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 35, because per BP-03.91, we are permitted to appeal the Director's Review Committee's decision after six months.
3. That you send us copies of the Approved and Disapproved Publications Lists, or their equivalent.


Sincerely,


MIM Distributors


CC: Affected parties

pg. 1 "Seize the Time on sep. 9"; 2. "How to join the United Front"; 3. "UFAO Links Uo with UFPP"; 5. "Is iULK TOO hardcore for the DOC"; 6. "Prisoner-led Study Groups Summary"; 7. "What's it all for?" and 13. "Attica Prisoner Remembers 1971" have been found unacceptable for reasons indicated below.

In the opinion of FMRC violates Guidelines II, D, as it advocates and presents a clear and immediate risk of lawlessness, violence, anarchy or rebellion against governmental authority and is therefore unacceptable.

Deputy Director, Division of Operations
Virginia Department of Corrections
PO Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261


October 2, 2015


RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key #45


Dear Deputy Director,

We recently received the notification regarding the publication disapproval for Under Lock & Key #45.

This letter is to request a review of the denial. The reason given for the denial that the publication “could be detrimental to the security and good order of the institution and rehabilitation of offenders.” Further the notification letter states that “The numbers for those pages that were reviewed on which violations were found are listed above with the issue containing them.” Unfortunately no page numbers were listed, just the publication so we are unable to address specific concerns from the Publication Review committee.

We request that you respond to this letter with specific items that meet the criteria for publication disapproval so that we can address those in detail. The reason cited is Criteria D which reads: "Material, documents or photographs that emphasize depictions or promotions of violence, disorder, insurrection, terrorist, or criminal activity in violation of state or federal laws or the violation of the Offender Disciplinary Procedure." We are confident that there is no such content in our publication.

We look forward to receiving the list of specific pages in Under Lock & Key #45 that meet Criteria D, and an explanation of the content on those pages that is promoting the acts in question.

I look forward to your response.


Sincerely,

(c) Publicatino contains 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.

Remarks: Reason C. Pages 1 & 6 contain information detailing prison strikes

Unknown item

"It is being held as contraband property..."

"The material you received is currently being reviewed. You will be notified within 15 working days of the outcome of this review."

Unauthorized publication: x2 MIM Theory

Unauthorized publication: x2 MIM Theory

Assistant Section Chief
Support Services
4260 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4260

15 September 2015

RE: censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 45

Dear Sir/Madam,

Once again I am requesting a review of the decision of the Publication Review Committee Chair, Fay Lassiter, to censor Under Lock & Key. The reason given in her 3 September 2015 letter was that issue 45 “encourages insurrection and disorder.” At no point does Under Lock & Key No. 45 encourage insurrection nor does it encourage disorder. Despite Ms. Lassiter's banning of every issue of Under Lock & Key for four years straight, every issue promotes peace, organization and legal campaigns as means of addressing the abuse of prisoners. This is the opposite of encouraging “insurrection and disorder.”

It is illegal for you to censor mail that does not pose an actual threat to safety. Please recognize this, and rescind the decision to censor Under Lock & Key No. 45.


Sincerely,

(c) It contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes, riots or security threat group activity.

Remarks: Pgs 1 + 6 contain information detailing prison strikes

Does offender wish to appeal the denial? Yes

(c) It contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes, riots or security threat group activity.

Remarks: Pgs 1&6 contain information detailing prison strikes

Does offender wish to appeal the denial? Yes

DRC upheld the denial on 10-1-15