Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

K. Brandon, Correctional Captain
Pelican Bay State Prison
PO Box 7000
Crescent City, CA 95531-7000

29 May 2009

Dear K. Brandon,

In late April you sent a memo signed by you on 4/21/2009 stating that 3 letters from MIM Distributors had been censored due to the statewide ban. Subsequently, a 5/4/2009 letter from you acknowledges that said ban was overturned 6 months prior. Finally, we received a new ?Stopped Mail Notification?, presumably for the same 3 pieces of mail stating that they were ?contraband? and a ?threat to penalogical interests.? The explanation reads ?CONTENT INCITES REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGIES.?

The three pieces of mail sent to the prisoner during the period in question were an introductory letter to MIM(Prisons) work with prisoners, issue 7 of the newsletter Under Lock & Key and a copy of the letter sent to the warden on 4/6/2009 by our office explaining that you were operating on an outdated department memo. So you are saying that a letter to the warden about CDCR policies is a threat to penalogical interests? The main point made in issue 7 of Under Lock & Key is that it is against the interests of prisoners to encourage violent confrontations with others when facing frustrations (the intro letter echoes this belief). ULK 7 also argues that the prevention of legal rights and avenues for redress of complaints to prisoners is a strategy to promote violence in prisons. Are these expressed ideas in ULK 7 a threat to the interests of the CDCR as you see them?

Finally, your justification for the censorship given on the notification dated on 4/15/2009, but mailed 5/13/2009 after acknowledging MIM Distributors is not banned by CDCR, assumes a role for the IGI that is threatening to Constitutional rights. Thornburgh, 490 U.S. at 416 n.14 is clear that political ideology cannot be used to verify a written document as a ?threat to penalogical interests.?

If you cannot cite a specific action in each of the three pieces of mail in question that poses a threat then your actions are not based in U.S. law.

If, on the other hand, you see the promotion of non-violent behavior in prisons and legal action on behalf of prisoners? rights as a threat to penalogical interests, then we will take our concerns elsewhere. Either way, we will appreciate your response so that we can address our concerns through the appropriate avenues.

Thank you for your time,