Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

To the Publisher:

You are hereby advised that the following issue(s) of publication(s) sent to an offender of the Virginia Department of Corrections have been disapproved for delivery to offenders of the Department:

Under Lock & Key-September/October 2016, No. 52

for the following reasons:

D. 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.

you may obtain an independent review of this decision by writing, within fifteen calendar days, to the Deputy Director, Division of Operations, Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, Virginia 23261.

Sincerely,

Melissa Welch
Chairman, Publication Review Committee

To the Publisher:

You are hereby advised that the following issue(s) of publication(s) sent to an offender of the Virginia Department of Corrections have been disapproved for delivery to offenders of the Department:

MIM Distributors, September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity Study Pack

for the following reasons:

D. 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.

you may obtain an independent review of this decision by writing, within fifteen calendar days, to the Deputy Director, Division of Operations, Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, Virginia 23261.

Sincerely,

Melissa Welch
Chairman, Publication Review Committee

I have reviewed your grievance appealing the decision of the Publication Review Committee to disapprove publication "MIM Prison - September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity Study Pack".

In accordance with Operating Procedure #803.2-Incoming Publications, approval to order or subscribe a publicaiton is not a blanket approval to receive the publication; each issue will be reviewed at the facility prior to delivery to offenders. The Warden or his desinee should disapprove any publicaiton for receipt and possession by the offender if it is on the Disapproved Publication List or it can be documented to contain material that violates Operating Procedure #803.2, as specifically listed in 803.2 Section IV (D).

River North Correctional Center denied the publication and the decision was sustained by the Publication Reivew Committee on September 14, 2016, which based its decision on a violation of Operating Procedure #803.2, IV, Section H (D):

D. Material, documents, or photographs that emphasize depiction or promotion of violence, disorder, insurreciton, terrorist, or criminal activity in violation of state or federal laws or the violation of the Offender Disciplinary Procedure.

I have considered your appeal of the Committee's decision and determined the Publicaiotn review committee disapproved the publication in accordance with Operatin gProcedure #803.2, Incoming Publications. Therefore, I am upholding the Committee's decision. Your grievance is UNFOUNDED. You have exhausted all administrative remedies.

Signed: A. David Robinson, Chief of Corrections Operations

To the Publisher:

You are hereby advised that the following issue(s) of publication(s) sent to an offender of the Virginia Department of Corrections have been disapproved for delivery to offenders of the Department:

MIM Theory #7, 1995.

for the following reasons:

D. 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.

you may obtain an independent review of this decision by writing, within fifteen calendar days, to the Deputy Director, Division of Operations, Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, Virginia 23261.

Sincerely,

Melissa Welch
Chairman, Publication Review Committee

I have reviewed your grievance appealing the decision of the Publication Review Committee to disapprove publication "MIM Theory #7".

In accordance with Operating Procedure #803.2-Incoming Publications, approval to order or subscribe a publicaiton is not a blanket approval to receive the publication; each issue will be reviewed at the facility prior to delivery to offenders. The Warden or his desinee should disapprove any publicaiton for receipt and possession by the offender if it is on the Disapproved Publication List or it can be documented to contain material that violates Operating Procedure #803.2, as specifically listed in 803.2 Section IV (D&F).

River North Correctional Center denied the publication and the decision was sustained by the Publication Reivew Committee on September 14, 2016, which based its decision on a violation of Operating Procedure #803.2, IV, Section H (D&F):

D. Material, documents, or photographs that emphasize depiction or promotion of violence, disorder, insurreciton, terrorist, or criminal activity in violation of state or federal laws or the violation of the Offender Disciplinary Procedure.

F. Material that depicts, describes, or promotes gang bylaws, initiations, organization structure, codes, or other gang-related activity or association.

I have considered your appeal of the Committee's decision and determined the Publicaiotn review committee disapproved the publication in accordance with Operatin gProcedure #803.2, Incoming Publications. Therefore, I am upholding the Committee's decision. Your grievance is UNFOUNDED. You have exhausted all administrative remedies.

Signed: A. David Robinson, Chief of Corrections Operations

You are hereby advised that the following issue(s) of publication(s) sent to an offender of the Virginia Department of Corrections have been disapproved for delivery to offenders of the Department:

MIM Theory #14, 2001

for the following reasons:

D. 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.

you may obtain an independent review of this decision by writing, within fifteen calendar days, to the Deputy Director, Division of Operations, Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, Virginia 23261.

Sincerely,

Melissa Welch
Chairman, Publication Review Committee

You are hereby advised that the following issue(s) of publication(s) sent to an offender of the Virginia Department of Corrections have been disapproved for delivery to offenders of the Department:

MIM Theory, Nov. 14, 2001, Vol. 6 No. 1, page 98.

for the following reasons:

F. Material that depicts, describes, or promotes gang bylaws, initiations, organizational structure, codes, or other gang-related actiity or association.

you may obtain an independent review of this decision by writing, within fifteen calendar days, to the Deputy Director, Division of Operations, Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, Virginia 23261.

Sincerely,

Melissa Welch
Chairman, Publication Review Committee

You are hereby advised that the following issue(s) of publication(s) sent to an offender of the Virginia Department of Corrections have been disapproved for delivery to offenders of the Department:

MIM, Under Lock and Key, #48, Jan/Feb 2016, pages 9 and 18.

for the following reasons:

F. Material that depicts, describes, or promotes gang bylaws, initiations, organizational structure, codes, or other gang-related actiity or association.

you may obtain an independent review of this decision by writing, within fifteen calendar days, to the Deputy Director, Division of Operations, Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, Virginia 23261.

Sincerely,

Melissa Welch
Chairman, Publication Review Committee

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,

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

June 28, 2015

RE: Censorship of MIM Theory #10 and Under Lock & Key 43

Dear Deputy Director,

We recently received a notification publication disapproval for MIM Theory #10 and Under Lock & Key #43. The notification says that “The numbers for those pages that were reviewed on which violations were found are listed above with the issue containing them.” But this is not the case in either notification. It just says “Criteria D & F” without any page numbers listed.

From your 802-3 incoming publications rules I assume these criteria refer to the following:

D. 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
Note: This criterion shall not be used to exclude publications that describe such acts in the context of a story or moral teaching unless the description of such acts is the primary purpose of the publication. No publication generally recognized as having artistic or literary value should be excluded under this criterion.

F. Material that depicts, describes, or promotes gang bylaws, initiations, organizational structure, codes, or other gang-related activity or association

MIM Theory 10 is a theoretical journal discussing the economics of workers in the United States. There is in fact no material in this journal that meets either of those criteria. And with no page numbers listed we I can not figure out where your review committee could have come up with these reasons for denial.

Further, while Under Lock & Key is a news publication reporting on prison-based news, it too contains nothing that would violate criteria D&F. Again, with no page references we are left wondering if the staff on the Publication Review Committee is failing to even review mail from MIM Distributors and instead is systematically rejecting publications that we send in. Per their own letter, we must insist that the page numbers be provided so that we can appropriately appeal these decisions.

With this letter we request a list of specific pages in Under Lock & Key #43 and MIM Theory 10 that meet Criteria D & F, and an explanation of the content on those pages that is promoting the acts in question. We are confident that there is no such content in our publications.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

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

June 28, 2015

RE: Censorship of MIM Theory #10 and Under Lock & Key 43

Dear Deputy Director,

We recently received a notification publication disapproval for MIM Theory #10 and Under Lock & Key #43. The notification says that “The numbers for those pages that were reviewed on which violations were found are listed above with the issue containing them.” But this is not the case in either notification. It just says “Criteria D & F” without any page numbers listed.

From your 802-3 incoming publications rules I assume these criteria refer to the following:

D. 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
Note: This criterion shall not be used to exclude publications that describe such acts in the context of a story or moral teaching unless the description of such acts is the primary purpose of the publication. No publication generally recognized as having artistic or literary value should be excluded under this criterion.

F. Material that depicts, describes, or promotes gang bylaws, initiations, organizational structure, codes, or other gang-related activity or association

MIM Theory 10 is a theoretical journal discussing the economics of workers in the United States. There is in fact no material in this journal that meets either of those criteria. And with no page numbers listed we I can not figure out where your review committee could have come up with these reasons for denial.

Further, while Under Lock & Key is a news publication reporting on prison-based news, it too contains nothing that would violate criteria D&F. Again, with no page references we are left wondering if the staff on the Publication Review Committee is failing to even review mail from MIM Distributors and instead is systematically rejecting publications that we send in. Per their own letter, we must insist that the page numbers be provided so that we can appropriately appeal these decisions.

With this letter we request a list of specific pages in Under Lock & Key #43 and MIM Theory 10 that meet Criteria D & F, and an explanation of the content on those pages that is promoting the acts in question. We are confident that there is no such content in our publications.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Publications Review Committee
Virginia Department of Corrections
PO Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261

November 27, 2014

RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key #39 and draft issue #40 to XXX

Dear Publications Review Committee,

Recently MIM Distributors was informed by Mr. XX that Under Lock & Key #39 (July/August 2014) and Draft ULK #40 were disapproved by the Publication Review Committee. We did not receive any notification of this censorship. You are required, by Virginia Inmate Mail policy, to notify us of these rejections: "If opened, the unauthorized correspondence will be returned directly to the sender if known, with a written explanation for disapproval." (see https://vadoc.virginia.gov/offenders/prison-life/mail.shtm)

Further, court cases have upheld this requirement. In particular Montcalm Publishing Co. v. Beck, 80 F.3d105 (4th Cir. 1996) includs the following ruling regarding Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Procedure: "We hold that publishers are entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard when their publications are disapproved for receipt by inmate subscribers."

We were never notified of this mail rejection, a clear violation of policy. Furtther, on August 26 we received a letter from Louis B Cei, Chair of this committee assuring us that we would receive notification of future mail denials. We appreciate Mr. Cei's assurance but we need to see the follow through and actually receive these denial notifications or you will continue to be out of compliance with your own policies.

We request the following actions:
- A copy of the official inmate mail policy for the VA DOC
- Notification of all MIM Distributors rejected mail directly from the prison upon rejection
- Appeal the censorship of the two publications listed above

I appreciate your consideration, and anticipate your response.

Sincerely,

MIM Distributors

CC: Affected parties
Benjamin Wright, Warden
River North Correctional Center
329 Dell Brook Lane
Independence, VA 24348

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

March 18, 2015

RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key #39 to Mr. XXX

Dear Deputy Director,

We recently received a copy of the notification to publisher of publication disapproval for Under Lock & Key #39, which was mailed to Mr. XXX. Please note that we did not receive this letter on the date it was generated (November 11, 2014) but only were sent a copy after we appealed the lack of notification of censorship to the Publication Review committee. As a result, it was impossible for us to appeal the decision within 15 calendar days.

This letter is to request a review of the denial. 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."

In the rejection notice it states "The numbers for those pages that were reviewed on which violations were found are listed above with the issue containing them." But there are no pages listed.

With this letter we request a list of specific pages in Under Lock & Key #39 that meet Criteria D, and an explanation of the content on those pages that is promoting the acts in question. We are confident that there is no such content in our publication.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Christine Eacho, Chair
Publications Review Committee
Virginia Department of Corrections
PO Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261

March 18, 2015

RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key #39 to Mr. XXX and Disapproved Publications List

Dear Publications Review Committee,

Thank you for your December 22, 2014 response to our letter protesting the denial of mail to Mr. XXX. In your letter you explain that we can not expect notification until the PRC has reviewed mail, potentially 30-60 days after it has been confiscated. We look forward to consistent notification from your committee any time mail is denied in the future. We did not ever receive a copy of the November 11 denial you mention and so we appreciate the copy you sent to us. Please note that there appears to be some problem with the PRC process for mailing out these notifications which we hope you will investigate so that we receive such mail in the future without needing to protest the lack of notification first. We also have not received any follow up on draft issue 40. Given that it has been more than 60 days we wonder if the notification was also lost for that disapproval.

You also say "PRC will not generate a list of disapproved rejected publications at this time, as this was generated to you previously." I am confused by this statement. First, even if we had received such a list in the past, clearly the list is changing all the time with review of new publications and potential reversals of previous rejections. This is not a valid reason to refuse to send us the requested information. In reality, just like the letters notifying us of mail denials, the disapproved publication list never reached our mailbox. There may be a problem with your records regarding mail you believe was sent to us, since none of it is actually getting here. Further, you do not mention our September 10 letter to the PRC in which we noted that:

"You mention that several of our publications are on the Master Disapproved list for reasons that do not match with the list we received from Mr. XXXXXX. Mr. XXXXXX received his list from the prison so there is apparently some incorrect information circulating and being misapplied by staff. We hope you will be able to clear up this confusion and ensure VA policies regarding mail will be applied appropriately.

"Please forward us a copy of this master disapproved list so that we can have a complete list of our publications that have been censored and the reasons for this. Mr. XXXXXX is being denied our literature for reasons of sex acts or Spanish content, which your letter confirms is incorrect. We will be able to use your Master List to appropriately appeal the denials. Similarly, we would like to know which MIM Theory journals are approved for offenders to purchase as you indicated that 5 of them are on the list as approved."

As you can clearly see, there are discrepancies on the list, and reasons given for disapproval that make absolutely no sense and do not match the content of the publications. Again we reiterate our request that you send us a copy of the most recent disapproved publications. There is no reasonable justification for refusing this request.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Publications Review Committee
Virginia Department of Corrections
PO Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261

June 20, 2015

RE: Disapproved Publications List

Dear Mr. Moody,

Thank you for your April 14, 2015 response to our March letter requesting a copy of all disapproved publications from our company. The list that you sent is very helpful. In summary, it appears that the following publications are disapproved:

Under Lock & Key 15, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33, 36, 37, and 39

For some of these publications page numbers are listed which we assume are the cause of the denials. And for all there is a letter code listed which is either “D”, “F” or both “D,F”. From the 803-2 Incoming Publications rules (https://vadoc.virginia.gov/about/procedures/documents/800/803-2.pdf) I assume these refer to the reasons:

D. 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
Note: This criterion shall not be used to exclude publications that describe such acts in the context of a story or moral teaching unless the description of such acts is the primary purpose of the publication. No publication generally recognized as having artistic or literary value should be excluded under this criterion.

F. Material that depicts, describes, or promotes gang bylaws, initiations, organizational structure, codes, or other gang-related activity or association

Fortunately for all concerned, none of the publications on this list violate either of these criteria. We would remind you that the rule D actually includes the very important caveat: “This criterion shall not be used to exclude publications that describe such acts in the context of a story or moral teaching unless the description of such acts is the primary purpose of the publication.” We encourage you to initiate a review of all rejections to forestall future legal action.

We also want to address the publications NOT on this list. The following publications have been rejected by Virginia prisons, apparently in contradiction with the determination by your Publication Review Committee:

Under Lock & Key 32
MIM Theory 10
MIM Theory 9

Now that we have clearly established which publications are denied, we ask that the above publications, which are approved for receipt by VA prisoners, be delivered to Mr. XXX.

Lastly, you did not address our request from April:

Similarly, we would like to know which MIM Theory journals are approved for offenders to purchase as you indicated that 5 of them are on the list as approved.

We anxiously anticipate your response with a list of APPROVED MIM Theory journals.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

You have the option to file a grievance only after the publication has been sent to the Publication Review Committee and you have received their decision

Benjamin Wright, Warden
River North Correctional Center
329 Dell Brook Lane
Independence, VA 24348

July 29, 2014

RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key and other mail to Mr.XXX

Dear Warden Wright,

Recently MIM Distributors received a copy of the disapproved publications list from your prison. It includes multiple issues of our newsletter Under Lock & Key and our theory journal MIM Theory with reasons that are completely unrelated to the content of the publications in question. Specifically you have on the disapproved list:

Under Lock & Key 23 for "Oral sex"
Under Lock & Key 24 for "penetration"
Under Lock & Key #15 for "penetration"
Under Lock & Key #20 for "penetration"
Under Lock & Key #25 for "penetration"
Under Lock & Key #26 for "Sex Acts"
Under Lock & Key #27 and #28 for "penetration"
Under Lock & Key #33 for "Newspaper depicts the US prison system negatively and promotes disruption"
MIM Theory #9 for no reason given
MIM Theory #11 for "Sexual descriptions, multiple sex partners, oral sex"
MIM Theory #13 for "Spanish"

In spite of many of these including page numbers supposedly containing the material in question, we can state definitively that there is no oral sex, penetration, sex acts or anything related to sex in Under Lock & Key or MIM Theory. And MIM Theory #13 is not in Spanish, although there is nothing in the VA prison rules preventing prisoners from receiving Spanish material. The only claim on this list that is related to the actual content in Under Lock & Key is that the newspaper depicts the US prison system negatively. While this is accurate, it does not constitute a reason for censorship, rather it appears to be a point of political disagreement with our publication. The newspaper does not promote disruption, and in fact we have found that readers of Under Lock & Key are more likely to resolve conflicts peacefully and advance their education while in prison.

Further, additional issues of Under Lock & Key have been rejected for illegitimate reasons:

Under Lock & Key 37 was rejected on 4/11/2014: "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"

A introductory study group letter was rejected on 4/10/2014: "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" and "Material whose content could be detrimental to the offender rehabilitative efforts or the safety or health of offenders, staff, or others based on the offender's specific criminogenic needs."

A letter explaining how to form a study group, and an invitation to join a study group were rejected on 1/22/2014: "Material whose content could be detrimental to the offender rehabilitative efforts or the safety or health of offenders, staff, or others based on the offender's specific criminogenic needs."

We were never notified of these mail rejections until Mr. XXX forwarded us the notifications of disapproval.

We request the following actions:
- Investigation into the above listed publications on the disapproved publications list to determine what material they contain that justifies this disapproval,
- Notification of the specific findings of this investigation.
- Notification of all MIM Distributors rejected mail directly from the prison upon rejection
- Appeal the censorship of all of the above listed publications and letters

I appreciate your consideration, and anticipate your response.

Sincerely,


MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

CC: Affected parties

MIM(Prisons) forwarded protest letter to: Publications Review Committee, Virginia Department of Corrections, PO Box 26963, Richmond, Virginia 23261.

Louis B. Cei, Chair
Publications Review Committee
Virginia Department of Corrections
PO Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261

September 10, 2014

Mr. Cei,

Thank you for your letter dated August 26 following up on our correspondence about MIM Distributors literature sent to Mr. X.

We appreciate your assurance that PRC will mail us a notification informing us of disapproved items. We look forward to a timely notification of these issues in the future. It is not clear from your letter whether we will receive a letter from the PRC covering the items for which we never received notification in the past. If that was not your intent, we request that these be sent to afford us the opportunity to request independent review and appeal the denials.

You mention that several of our publications are on the Master Disapproved list for reasons that do not match with the list we received from Mr. X. Mr. X received his list from the prison so there is apparently some incorrect information circulating and being misapplied by staff. We hope you will be able to clear up this confusion and ensure VA policies regarding mail will be applied appropriately.

Please forward us a copy of this master disapproved list so that we can have a complete list of our publications that have been censored and the reasons for this. Mr. X is being denied our literature for reasons of sex acts or Spanish content, which your letter confirms is incorrect. We will be able to use your Master List to appropriately appeal the denials. Similarly, we would like to know which MIM Theory journals are approved for offenders to purchase as you indicated that 5 of them are on the list as approved.

In summary we are requesting the following actions:
- Formal notification of all past disapproved mail items so that we will have the ability to request independent review
- Delivery to Mr. X of the publications he was denied that are not on the list as denied by the PRC
- A copy of the Master Disapproved list or complete listing of all MIM(Prisons) mail that is on that list and the reasons for inclusion
- A list of all MIM literature on the approved master list

Thank you for your time in addressing this matter.

Sincerely,

Legal Assistant, MIM(Prisons)
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

cc: affected parties

Publications Review Committee
Virginia Department of Corrections
PO Box 26963
Richmond, VA 23261

August 13, 2014

RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key #38 and other mail to Mr. XXX

Dear Publications Review Committee,

Recently MIM Distributors was informed by Mr. XXX that Under Lock & Key May/June 2014 (#38) was disapproved by the Publication Review Committee. We did not receive any notification of this censorship. You are required, by Virginia Inmate Mail policy, to notify us of these rejections: "If opened, the unauthorized correspondence will be returned directly to the sender if known, with a written explanation for disapproval." (see https://vadoc.virginia.gov/offenders/prison-life/mail.shtm)

Further, court cases have upheld this requirement. In particular Montcalm Publishing Co. v. Beck, 80 F.3d105 (4th Cir. 1996) includs the following ruling regarding Virginia Department of Corrections Operating Procedure: "We hold that publishers are entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard when their publications are disapproved for receipt by inmate subscribers."

We were never notified of this mail rejection, a clear violation of policy.

We request the following actions:
- A copy of the official inmate mail policy for the VA DOC
- Notification of all MIM Distributors rejected mail directly from the prison upon rejection
- Appeal the censorship of all Under Lock & Key May/June 2014

I appreciate your consideration, and anticipate your response.

Sincerely,


MIM Distributors

CC: Affected parties