Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

Warden (A) Martin Biter
Kern Valley State Prison
PO Box 3130
Delano, CA 93216-6000

March 14, 2012

RE: Censorship incidents occurred at Kern Valley State Prison ? exclusion of publications sent to Mr. XXX

Dear Warden Biter,

I am writing this letter about what seems to be a censorship incident that occurred at Kern Valley State Prison. MIM Distributors sent the above mentioned prisoner several different publications and letters.

Precisely MIM Distributors sent Mr. XXX:
? Under Lock & Key 17 (November/December 2010) sent via Presorted Standard Mail on 11/19/2010
? Under Lock & Key 18 (January/February 2011) sent via Presorted Standard Mail on 01/28/2011
? Under Lock & Key 23 (November/December 2011) sent via Presorted Standard Mail on 05/27/2011

We recently learned from the prisoner that he never received these materials. Nor did he receive any notice or determination from your Department explaining whether and why the publications were censored. MIM Distributors did not receive any notice of censorship determination either.

Your DOM states at sections 54010.16 and 54010.21.3 that respectively prisoners and publishers have to be notified of negative determinations and entitles both the sender and the recipient to appeal rejections of publications and letters.

As of now, it is impossible for us to understand why the letters and publications haven?t been delivered to the inmate and whether or not the Administration has decided to censor them.

As you are certainly aware, the U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that both the sender and the prisoner have a right, under the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, to receive notice and an opportunity to be heard when prison administrators or staff prevent the sender?s expressive materials from reaching their intended recipients (Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S.396. 94 S.Ct 1800, as reaffirmed on the point by Turner V. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987) and Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401 (1989) and Montcalm Publ'g Corp. v. Beck, 80 F.3d 105, 106 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 928 (1996)). In plain and striking contradiction with these principles, neither the prisoner, nor MIM Distributors were notified of the censorship decision or actually of any decisions that the Mailroom staff has made with regard to the publication sent to Mr. Barnett.

In refusing to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard to both the prisoner and the publisher (MIM Distributors), under local policies and/or practices, prison administrators and staff violated clearly established constitutional law and acted under color of state law for purposes of 42 U.S.C. ? 1983.

In addition, the practice of holding publications and/or letters for an indefinite time without providing notice of any determination is certainly unconstitutional, as it does not satisfy the obligation that the prison administration has to provide both the sender and the recipient with a decision in a reasonable time and ultimately frustrates the right that both the sender and the prisoner have to appeal a negative determination.

With the present letter, MIM Distributors requests
1) to know whether or not a determination has been made over the mentioned letters and publications;
2) in case of a negative determination, to be notified of the reasons of the censorship decision and to be offered a chance to appeal the exclusion of its materials.
3) We also request that adequate notice be provided to the prisoner.

We appreciate your assistance in this matter and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

MIM Distributors
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140


CC: Affected parties

List item(s) which meet disapproval criteria:
Correspondence concerning the disruption of daily operations of the prison: Disapproved per Title 15 and Dom Supp 54010.9

List item(s) which meet disapproval criteria:
Correspondence concerning the disruption of daily operations of the prison. Disapproval per Title 15 and DOM Supp 54010.9.

Printed name of Warden's designee:
M. Denning

Correspondence concerning the disruption of daily operations of the prison. Disapproved per Title 15 and DOM Supp 54010.9."

"The Muslim Observer" is a publication of Muslim Media Network Inc. 29004 W. Eight Mile Rd. Farmington, Michigan 48336. info@muslimobserver.com

It is being censored but I do not believe it's the mailroom. I believe it's prison housing staff who seem to harbor animosity towards Muslims, particularly the ones who are not humble to the pig and their institutionalized corruption.