Censorship Victories and Banned Lists in Illinois

by an Illinois prisoner June 2013 permalink

As I believe you are aware, I have been involved in several battles with the prison system to secure your publications, and am now receiving them without incident. Therefore, I was surprised to read that prison authorities were claiming that Under Lock & Key was on the “banned list.” The next time that I am at our law library, I will examine the banned list, to see if the zine is on it, but I rather doubt that it is, as this facility would not have given me it if it were.

For all of your Illinois readers, I would suggest the following actions if they are having difficulties in receiving any of your publications:

Regularly examine the “banned publication list” which is available in every prison library.
It should be noted that only the Central Publication Review Committee can actually ban a publication; a prison can request it, but only the CPRC can approve it, and there will be a paper trail if anything is banned.
The following documents spell out a prisoner’s rights regarding publications; all are available through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). However, if they are available at the prison’s library, they will tell you to review them there. (Any person in the free world can obtain them.)

Illinois Department of Corrections
Staff Development and Training
Office of Inmate Issues
Publication Review Procedures

Departmental Rule 525
Part 525 - Rights and Privileges
Subpart C: Publications

These documents can be obtained from: