Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

Acting Captain Mr. Chenshaw, Mailroom
Avenal State Prison
PO Box 9
Avenal, CA 93204-0009
September 24, 2009
Mr. Chenshaw,

This letter is being sent in regards to the denial of MIM Distributors' publication Under Lock & Key issue 9 (July 2009) from prisoners Mr. XXX and Mr. XXX. Interestingly enough, Mr. XXX has been appealing this censorship, and he was referred to a defunct CDCR memorandum from December 13, 2006.

As you may know, following Prison Legal News v. CDCR, this previously mentioned memorandum was overturned and your department was to create a centralized list of any banned publications. The first iteration of this list was released on October 21, 2008. The newsletter that was censored, Under Lock & Key, was not on the list. The list is to be updated May 1 of each year, and we have not seen or heard of any updated lists since the original.

Please clarify this matter so that we can know the current status of our ability to communicate with people being held in Avenal State Prison.

Acting Captain Mr. Chenshaw, Mailroom
Avenal State Prison
PO Box 9
Avenal, CA 93204-0009
September 24, 2009
Mr. Chenshaw,

This letter is being sent in regards to the denial of MIM Distributors' publication Under Lock & Key issue 9 (July 2009) from prisoners Mr. XXX and Mr. XXX. Interestingly enough, Mr. XXX has been appealing this censorship, and he was referred to a defunct CDCR memorandum from December 13, 2006.

As you may know, following Prison Legal News v. CDCR, this previously mentioned memorandum was overturned and your department was to create a centralized list of any banned publications. The first iteration of this list was released on October 21, 2008. The newsletter that was censored, Under Lock & Key, was not on the list. The list is to be updated May 1 of each year, and we have not seen or heard of any updated lists since the original.

Please clarify this matter so that we can know the current status of our ability to communicate with people being held in Avenal State Prison.

Martha Humphries, Warden
8784 US Highway 27 West
Mayo, Florida
32066-3458

August 31, 2009

Warden Humphries,

This letter is in reference to the denial of a letter that was sent to X at Mayo Correctional Institution. The letter was sent from MIM Distributors in San Francisco, CA and was their "Censorpack" which contains information to help prisoners fight censorship. It instructs them to appeal their mail denials through the grievance process. It also instructs them to send us copies of communications with the prison administration, so that we can keep track in case we need to go to court.

However, mail room personnel S. Grantham denied the admittance of this "Censorpack" because it "depicts, describes or encourages activities which may lead to the use of physical violence of group disruption." If you are talking about the repression that prisoners who file grievances often come under from the prison administration, then yes, we are encouraging activities which may lead correctional officers to exert physical violence on prisoners.

It is ridiculous that a document that encourages prisoners to use legal means of fighting censorship could lead to group disruption, etc. We request an independent review of this error and for the "Censorpack" to be admitted to Mr. X, as well as any other prisoner in contact with MIM Distributors at Mayo CI.

We appreciate your consideration and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

MIM(Prisons)

Warden Francisco Jacquez
Pelican Bay State Prison
PO Box 7000
Crescent City, CA 95531-7000

22 August 2009

Mr. Jacquez,

Over the last year I have written a number of letters to yourself and Mr K. Brandon, Correctional Captain regarding the handling of mail from MIM Distributors to prisoners being held at Pelican Bay SP. I currently have a stack of mail on my desk, of various contents, all unopened and returned from PBSP stating ?Contents unacceptable at Pelican Bay.? I will not rewrite the points I have already made in my previous letters. However, I am writing to document the situation and once again request that you get your staff to respect the legal rights of MIM Distributors to communicate with prisoners at PBSP.

I welcome any correspondence you may have if you are interested in addressing this issue.


Sincerely,

Sheriff Steve Prator
505 Travis Street Rm 700
Shreveport, LA 71101

7 July 2009

Dear Sheriff Prator,

This letter is in response to a notice sent by your mailroom regarding mail sent to Mr. XXXXXX XXXXXX. The notice claims that Issue 8 of the newsletter Under Lock & Key is inappropriate because ?it had over 5 copied pages, and it displayed a gun.?

The mailroom staff appears to be interpreting the rule that states, ?No more than five (5) copied or original pages (No larger than 8.5? x 14?) from any one o f the following at one time: Books, Puzzle books, Newspapers, Internet, or any other acceptable source.? This rule does not apply to whole books, newspapers or other publications, but rather to pages removed from a publication. Under Lock & Key was mailed as a whole publication in its original form.

The second reason given seems a bit silly in an environment where actual existing guns are displayed on a regular basis. It is unlawful to censor publications for frivolous reasons.

I am requesting that the materials in question be allowed and given to Mr. XXXXXX. If you determine otherwise, you can contact me at the address above.