Censors in Their Own Words - March 2018

U.$. imperialist leaders and their labor aristocracy supporters like to criticize other countries for their tight control of the media and other avenues of speech. For instance, many have heard the myths about communist China forcing everyone to think and speak alike. In reality, these stories are a form of censorship of the truth in the United $tates. In China under Mao the government encouraged people to put up posters debating every aspect of political life, to criticize their leaders, and to engage in debate at work and at home. This was an important part of the Cultural Revolution in China. There are a number of books available that give a truthful account, but far more money is put into anti-communist propaganda. Here, free speech is reserved for those with money and power.

In prisons in particular we see so much censorship, especially targeting those who are politically conscious and fighting for their rights. Fighting for our First Amendment right to free speech is a battle that MIM(Prisons) and many of our subscribers waste a lot of time and money on. For us this is perhaps the most fundamental of requirements for our organizing work. There are prisoners, and some entire facilities (and sometimes entire states) that are denied all mail from MIM(Prisons). This means we can’t send in our newsletter, or study materials, or even a guide to fighting censorship. Many prisons regularly censor ULK claiming that the news and information printed within is a “threat to security.” For them, printing the truth about what goes on behind bars is dangerous. But if we had the resources to take these cases to court we believe we could win in many cases.

Denying prisoners mail is condemning some people to no contact with the outside world. To highlight this, and the ridiculous and illegal reasons that prisons use to justify this censorship, we will periodically print a summary of some recent censorship incidents in ULK.

We hope that lawyers, paralegals, and those with some legal knowledge will be inspired to get involved and help with these censorship battles, both behind bars and on the streets. For the full list of censorship incidents, along with copies of appeals and letters from the prison, check out our censorship reporting webpage.

Florida - Blackwater River Correctional Facility

ULK 56 was rejected because “It otherwise presents a threat to the security, good order, or discipline of the correctional system or the safety of any person.”

Florida - New River Work Camp

ULK 59 was impounded because “It contains an advertisement promoting any of the following where the advertisement is the focus of, rather than being incidental to, the publication or the advertising is prominent or prevalent throughout the publication: (1) Three-way calling services; (2) Pen pal services; (3) The purchase of products or services with postage stamps; or (4) Conducting a business or profession while incarcerated.

“It otherwise presents a threat to the security, good order, or discipline of the correctional system or the safety of any person.

“PG2: stamp program advertisement”

Illinois - Pontiac Correctional Center

The publication review officer sent a long response to our appeal of censorship which noted that no reasons were given for the censorship:

Per the Publication Review Administrative Directive and the associated Department of Corrections Publication Review Determination and Course of Action form (DOC0212), any publication may be disapproved based on a number of criteria. In this case, the issue in question contains various articles that violate the following criteria:

• Advocate or encourage violence, hatred, or group disruption or it poses an intolerable risk of violence or disruption.
  

Below are specific articles and excerpts from those articles that are provided as evidence to the appropriateness of this determination. All examples are pulled from the above mention September/October 2017 issue 58 of Under Lock & Key.

1. Page 8 Article DPRK: White Supremacy’s Global Agenda
   

• “The United States and all major countries of European descent have done everything in their collective power to keep these (nuclear) weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of nations, governments and people of color or hue.” Encourage Racial Division
  -“These global white supremacists have done everything they could to destabilize nation’s governments that they could not control by creating borders on foreign continents, setting up puppet governments (often dictators like Saddam Hussein and Benjamin Netanyahu who use war as a distraction of their individual greed)…” Encourages Racial Division
  -“Yet the media is far more dangerous than any of the ones before mentioned, due to its ability to influence the minds of those not fully conscious of the reality of being controlled by the designers of the Global White Supremacy Agenda.” Encourage Racial Division
  
  Page 10 Article Organizing Requires Organization: Proposed Structures for Success
  
• Political workers to inform and agitate within the state by promoting and organizing protest, phone calls and correspondence to state law makers, DOC commissioners and prison wardens and superintendents about complaints, proposed laws and policies to be adopted by the state officials.”Promotes Unauthorized Protests
  
  

2. Page 11 Article: Arbitrary Group Punishment
   

• “MIM(Prisons) adds: In July 2013 prisoners at MDF staged a hunger strike from Ad-Seg. We support these comrades just demands, which ally with ongoing campaigns to end long-term isolation as well as to provide proper avenues for having grievances heard.”Promotes Unauthorized Protests
  
  

3. Page 12 Article: Defend LGBTQ from CO Attacks
   

• “It’s hard to get 10 comrades to stand together as a whole so when a member from the LGBTQ community got jumped on and 30 comrades refused to leave the classrooms I was shocked.”
  
• “MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a great example of people coming together behind bars.”
  Promotes Unauthorized Protests
  

4. Page 13 Article: September 9 - Day of Peace and Solidarity Initial Reports
   

• “9 September 2017 marked the sixth annual Day of Peace and Solidarity in prisons across the United States. On this day we commemorate the anniversary of the Attica uprising, drawing attention to abuse of prisoners across the country through peaceful protests, unity events, and educational work.”
  Article contains further examples from 5 prisons in Arkansas, Texas, California, Nevada, and Arizona where prisoners initiated hunger strikes and unauthorized protests.
  Promotes Unauthorized Protests
  

I believe the articles mentioned above provide enough evidence to show that Issue 58 of Under Lock & Key “contains various articles promoting racial division and unauthorized protest,” and therefore met the criteria for being disapproved.

Additionally, after reviewing the issue a second time, I found this article:

Page 14 article: A Contribution to Thoughts on Unity and Alliance
- “MIM(Prisons) espouses a valid conviction that here and now is not the proper moment for a popular uprising (armed struggle.”
- “How do we succeed in armed confrontation?”
- “MIM(Prisons) responds: Of course we know that ultimately to overthrow imperialism armed struggle is necessary.”
Promotes Violent Uprising

MIM(Prisons) provides on page 3 of Issue 58 that they believe in “Peace: We organize to end needless conflicts and violence within the U.$. prison environment.” However, the implication of the page 14 article is that MIM(Prisons) believes that eventually an armed struggle must be initiated to overthrow what they perceive as the imperialist colonial government running the country and world. This is provided as evidence that MIM(Prisons) has an ulterior motive in promoting unrest and eventual violent protest within the prison system, which is another example as to why this issue was disapproved.

C/O David Meredith, Publication Review Officer

Washington - Clallam Bay Correctional Facility

MIM(prisons) was sent rejection notifications for two prisoners denying ULK 59 because it “Contains articles and information on drugs in prisons and the cost comparison of inside and outside of prison as well as movement of drugs.”

Victory in Washington - Stafford Creek Corrections Center

In response to our protest of the prison’s censorship of ULK 59 we received the following response from Roy Gonzalez, Correctional Manager:

I’m in receipt of your two correspondences appealing the rejection of the above two notices for inmates XXX and YYY dated January 21, 2018.

Per Washington State DOC policy 450.100 all publications rejected by any DOC correctional facility will be reviewed by the Publication Review Committee at DOC Headquarters. Mail Rejection Notice number 18346 was reviewed on January 8, 2018 and was overturned by the committee. The publication issue has since been forwarded to each offender. A copy of the final decision notice should be forthcoming to you from Stafford Creek Correctional Center (SCCC).