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Letter to Director Requesting Explanation of censorship
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Lowell Clark, Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
PO Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
18 August 2009
Director Lowell Clark,
This letter is to inquire about the continued blanket censorship of mail from MIM Distributors without any review of the mail and without notification of why the mail was returned. In February, my colleague, AAAA BBBB, wrote you regarding this matter and Angie Stevens responded requesting a copy of one of the envelopes returned. Ms BBBB responded to Ms Stevens with one of the envelopes and never received a response. To date your office has not addressed these concerns.
On July 29, 2009 numerous copies of the newsletter Under Lock & Key Issue 9 were returned to sender unopened and with no indication as to why. I understand there is a rule that prisoners must notify the staff of any subscriptions they may have in order to receive them. However, I know at least some of the subscribers whose mail was returned have notified the mailroom of their subscriptions (and all others should be doing so soon).
In the past not only was MIM Distributors not notified of the reasons for censorship, but neither were the subscribers to Under Lock & Key. The lack of inspection, lack of notification, and lack of response to our inquiries all seem to be outside of standard practice for the Department. Your explanation of these events will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your attention,
XXXX YYYY
p.s. I have enclosed a photocopy of one of the envelopes for your reference. All envelopes were unopened.
Response to Division Director requesting clarification of rules
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Lowell Clark, Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
PO Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
20 September 2009
Director Lowell Clark,
I received your letter from September 9, 2009 and appreciate your response. I do have the two previous letters that you mentioned, however, there is some confusion about our understandings of those letters (and others from your department) that led to my last letter. My understanding of rules cited in the November 17, 2008 letter from Capt. Robert Jensen is that Standard Mail will be rejected unless it is mail that the prisoner has subscribed to or other exceptions that are listed. The letter goes on to state that once the administration is notified of the subscription then the mail will no longer be returned. After multiple letters from MIM Distributors and notification of our subscribers we thought this question of the subscriptions was cleared up. Yet again, our mail was returned.
In your most recent letter you imply that ?Standard mail will be refused?. Period. This is not what Fdr03 says, nor would it be in compliance with established case law (see Morrison v. Hall, 261 F.3d 896 (9th Cir. 2001)). Furthermore, this matter has already been cleared up at CUCF, so there is some discrepancy as to how the rules are being applied at Utah State Prison.
Are you saying that there is no way for prisoners at USP to receive a normal subscription to Under Lock & Key because it is sent Presorted Standard mail? Or is there just something else that subscribers must do to get their subscriptions approved for delivery?
Response to Div Director re: mailing list & continued censorship in IM
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Lowell Clark, Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
PO Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
26 October 2009
Director Lowell Clark,
We have received your October 14th letter stating that pre-sorted mail will be delivered to prisoners in Utah prisons as long as prisoners have notified the administration of their subscriptions. Thank you for clarifying this matter for us and for the staff in the mail room there. It may be a good idea to publicize this policy more generally so that other prisoners don?t have unnecessary problems joining mailing lists such as ours in the future.
As far as sending you a list of our subscribers, this would be against our confidentially policy for our readers. Instead I will cc individuals who have subscribed so that they may contact you themselves to obtain any information. If there are any problems obtaining this information, MIM Distributors will be happy to put anyone in contact with you at their request.
One question that remains, is that recent First Class mail was returned stating that prisoners in Intensive Management cannot receive magazines. If this is true, can you provide me with a copy the regulation that sets this standard. If not, then I am requesting that this censorship be stopped as well.
Thank you again for looking into this for us,
12/03/2009
Div Director says that mail policy for Intensive Management is confidential Download Documentation
04/08/2010
Request for IMU mail policies
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Records Bureau
Utah Department of Corrections
14717 S. Minuteman Dr.
Draper, UT 84020
8 April 2010
Dear Sir/Madam,
This letter is to request a copy of the policies that dictate mail to/from prisoners held in the Intensive Management Unit at Utah State Prison. We have been going back and forth with Director Lowell Clark's office regarding the censorship of mail from MIM Distributors. When we ask them to tell us what rules we are violating, they respond that it is confidential information. However in one letter Mr. Clark's office advised us to write to this address to request the policies. This information would be extremely helpful for us in our attempts to properly comply with IMU policies at Utah State Prison.
We appreciate your assistance and look forward to your response.
Prisoner filed grievance regarding blanket censorship of Under Lock & Key Download Documentation
10/25/2009
Asked Div Director if this is a real rule
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Lowell Clark, Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
PO Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
26 October 2009
Director Lowell Clark,
We have received your October 14th letter stating that pre-sorted mail will be delivered to prisoners in Utah prisons as long as prisoners have notified the administration of their subscriptions. Thank you for clarifying this matter for us and for the staff in the mail room there. It may be a good idea to publicize this policy more generally so that other prisoners don?t have unnecessary problems joining mailing lists such as ours in the future.
As far as sending you a list of our subscribers, this would be against our confidentially policy for our readers. Instead I will cc individuals who have subscribed so that they may contact you themselves to obtain any information. If there are any problems obtaining this information, MIM Distributors will be happy to put anyone in contact with you at their request.
One question that remains, is that recent First Class mail was returned stating that prisoners in Intensive Management cannot receive magazines. If this is true, can you provide me with a copy the regulation that sets this standard. If not, then I am requesting that this censorship be stopped as well.
It is illegal to only allow first class mail
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Lowell Clark, Division Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
P.O. Box 250
Draper, UT 84020
24 February 2010
Dear Director Clark,
This letter is regarding a Level 2 Response that Inmate Grievance Coordinator Billie Casper gave to XXX at Utah State Prison, reference #990873529. The response is regarding a grievance XXX filed asserting that there is a blanket censorship of the publication Under Lock & Key that has prevented XXX from receiving issues #4, 6, 8, 9 and 10.
In this Level 2 Response Coordinator Casper wrote that "Inmates housed in intensive management sections are only allowed First Class mail and privileged or religious mail," without providing a reference to any specific policy number. Coordinator Casper even went so far as to accuse XXX of filing his grievance maliciously and threatened to suspend Mr. XXXXXX from the grievance system if he did not withdraw his grievance about the blanket ban of Under Lock & Key.
As the publisher and distributor of the newsletter Under Lock & Key, we would like to refer you to some very relevant case law to this disagreement between MIM Distributors/XXX and Coordinator Casper/USP. In Prison Legal News v. Lehman 397 5.30 692 (9th Cir. 2005) it was determined that "Under the test laid out in Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89-90 (1987), the [GA] DOC?s ban on non-subscription bulk mail and catalogs is not rationally related to a legitimate penological interest and is therefore unconstitutional." So although Coordinator Casper may be working within USP policy, USP policy is not congruent with United States law.
We are asking that you (1) review the Utah State Prison policy that asserts that IMU prisoners are not allowed to receive bulk mail, (2) work with the proper authorities to legally and properly update the USP policies, and (3) retrain USP mailroom and grievance staff to the new, legal policies. We also ask you to (4) lift the blanket censorship of Under Lock & Key, (5) and, if XXX was put on grievance suspension, to remove XXX from grievance suspension.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
MIM Distributors
CC: Affected parties.
03/18/2010
State of Utah Attorney General Responds to MIM(Prisons)'s Inquiry Download Documentation
Response to Director from MIM Distributors
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Lowell Clark, Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
PO Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
04 April 2009
Director Lowell Clark,
We received a letter from your secretary, Angie Stevens, dated March 10, 2009. In response to your request, with this letter I've included an envelope that was refused from your facility.
Working with mailroom staff, Warden Steve Turleu and Inmate Grievance Coordinator Billie Casper have been informing prisoners at Utah State Prison of policy stating that "[m]ail, other than first class mail, privileged and/or religious should not be allowed for inmates on Intensive Management. Mail other than first class, privileged and religious shall not be permitted and includes, but is not limited to newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, brochures, etc. (FDr25/02.10 G; FDr25/03.01)"
Established caselaw prohibits frivolous censorship and requires that censorship be backed up by legitimate penological interests of the institution. Specifically, Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, and Morrison v. Hall, 261 F.3d 896, 900, fn.4 (9th Cir. 2001) are relevant to this issue. What you're doing is against the law. We request that you follow law, and that you enforce your employees' compliance with the law.
Lowell Clark, Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
PO Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
28 February 2009
Director Lowell Clark,
This letter is to inquire about mail that was returned to sender from your facility stating, ?Refused.? The mail was from MIM Distributors and contained issue 6 of their newsletter Under Lock & Key, which was refused to the following prisoners: Mr. A, MR. B, Mr. C, Mr. D, Mr. E, Mr. F, Mr. G, Mr. H, Mr. I, Mr. J, Mr. K, Mr. L, Mr. M, Mr. N, Mr. O, Mr. P, Mr. Q, Mr. R, Mr. S, and Mr. T.
Can you please explain why this mail was returned and on what basis was judged to be ?refused? from Utah State Prison?
Lowell Clark, Director
Utah State Prison (USP)
PO Box 250
Draper, Utah 84020
04 April 2009
Director Lowell Clark,
We received a letter from your secretary, Angie Stevens, dated March 10, 2009. In response to your request, with this letter I've included an envelope that was refused from your facility.
Working with mailroom staff, Warden Steve Turleu and Inmate Grievance Coordinator Billie Casper have been informing prisoners at Utah State Prison of policy stating that "[m]ail, other than first class mail, privileged and/or religious should not be allowed for inmates on Intensive Management. Mail other than first class, privileged and religious shall not be permitted and includes, but is not limited to newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, brochures, etc. (FDr25/02.10 G; FDr25/03.01)"
Established caselaw prohibits frivolous censorship and requires that censorship be backed up by legitimate penological interests of the institution. Specifically, Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, and Morrison v. Hall, 261 F.3d 896, 900, fn.4 (9th Cir. 2001) are relevant to this issue. What you're doing is against the law. We request that you follow law, and that you enforce your employees' compliance with the law.
![[Download Documentation]](https://www.prisoncensorship.info/docs/c1169.jpg){kind=link}
![[Download Documentation]](https://www.prisoncensorship.info/docs/c993.jpg){kind=link}