Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

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

5 March 2014

RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key Issue 36

Dear Mr. Dormire,

First let me acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 10th supporting my appeal of the previous issue of ULK. Thank you for that.

This letter is in response to the latest letter from Crossroads Corr. Ctr. Warden Larry Denney notifying us of the censorship of issue 36 of Under Lock & Key. In it he cites pages 6-7 of that issue claiming they ?may provoke disorder.? There is one essay spanning those pages from a former prisoner describing his/her feelings about his/her release, but I do not see what part of that article would be provoking disorder.

I am requesting that you review this incident of censorship and notify us of your decision.

In addition, despite a number of decisions by you overturning censorship by prison wardens in Missouri, we have seen a steep decline in confirmed mail received by prisoners across the state. I am requesting that you help us ensure that your decisions are enforced and that mail that is deemed to be appropriate is in fact delivered to prisoners. We will continue to monitor this apparent decline in our mail reaching its intended recipients in Missouri.


Thank you for your time,

I spoke to the grievance officer here and they told me that they have no record of my recieving issue #36 nor did they recieve any documentation from the director of MO DOC to issue it to anyone, despite seeing my copy of the memo sent to you.

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

5 June 2014

RE: Delivery of Under Lock & Key Issue 36

Dear Mr. Dormire,

I am in receipt of your letter from 19 March 2014 supporting my appeal of the censorship of Under Lock & Key Issue 36. I appreciate you taking the time to address my appeal once again and deciding against the censorship. However, as I've mentioned previously, there seems to be a lack of action behind your decisions on these appeals.

In the case of issue 36 of Under Lock & Key, Mr. XXXXXX XXXXXX at Moberly Correctional Center requested his copy and reports:

?I spoke to the grievance officer here and they told me that they have no record of my receiving issue #36 nor did they receive any documentation from the director of MO DOC to issue it to anyone, despite seeing my copy of the memo sent to you.?

It seems there are two problems here. First that the local staff are claiming that the publication was never sent to Mr. XXXXXX in the first place and subsequently censored by the mailroom. Second, they are claiming to have no documentation from you indicating that they should deliver the publication. In addition, after Mr. XXXXXX showed them a copy of your letter, they still failed to act to remedy the situation.

I am requesting that DOC process mail according to procedure and that decisions to overturn censorship be communicated to each facility and that mail be delivered in a timely manner following such decisions.


As always, thank you for your attention to these matters,