Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

August 21, 2024

ATTN: Jeremy Bean, Warden
High Desert State Prison
PO Box 650
Indian Springs, NV 89070-0650

Missing Mail

To Mr. Bean:

We are MIM(P), a publisher and distributor of literary materials for prisoners in the United States. We recently sent a number of publications to one XXXXXX Travis XXXXXX #XXXXXX residing at your facility which Mr. XXXXXX reported to us that he did not receive. The items in question are:

--MIM Theory 11
--Introduction to the Labor Aristocracy study pack
--Grievance Campaign Information

Seeing as we sent these items to your facility to be delivered to Mr. XXXXXX, the only possible explanation as to why they were not delivered is because the staff in the mail room at your facility decided to withhold them for some reason. However, neither ourselves nor Mr. XXXXXX received any notice about these materials being rejected. This is in direct conflict with NV-DOC regulation 750.06 which states that “if any item of mail addressed to an inmate is rejected for any reason the inmate shall receive written notice that describes the rejected item [and] states the reason it was rejected.” The regulation goes on to state that “where an item of mail addressed to an inmate is rejected for any reason, a copy of the written notice given to the inmate shall be given to the sender.”

This policy of the NV-DOC is backed up by decades of case law regarding this issue which established that such a lack of notice of censorship is a violation of our due process rights as publishers and distributors of literary materials. Please refer to Montcalm Publishing Corporation v. Beck, 80 F.3d 105 (4th Cir. 1996). Furthermore, we would remind you that as the publisher, we have a First Amendment right to correspond with prisoners, which is violated when our mail is unjustly censored. See Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 407-08 (1989). The institutional safeguards put in place by NV-DOC regulation 750 are intended to uphold these findings of the courts and prevent such flippant abuses of power (or worse, gross neglect of duties) as seen here.

We request the decision to withhold the listed materials be vacated and the publications be forwarded to Mr. XXXXXX. Failing to do this, we request that you send us adequate notice of the censorship as you are required to provide by law. Failure to provide appropriate notice and adherence to your policies may result in legal action.

Please govern yourself accordingly.


Sincerely,

March 20, 2024

Director of Operations
North Carolina Division of Prisons
831 W. Morgan Street, MSC 4261
Raleigh, NC 27699-4261

Re: LETTER TO PUBLISHER


To Whom It May Concern:

We are in receipt of your censorship notice for the publication Under Lock & Key Issue 84 (hereafter “ULK”) which was sent to one XXXXXX B. XXXXXX #XXXXXX. We are the publishers of ULK. For administrative purposes, we’d like to note that this notice is dated to 2/29/24 and was received by us on 3/19/24. A copy of your notice is enclosed within.

The listed reason for censorship is that the publication allegedly violates code A of North Carolina Division of Prisons policy D.0100. Code A in this policy states that publications received by prisoners must not facilitate “[t]he commission of criminal activity and/or the violation of state or federal law and/or the violation of Division of Prisons policy and/or offender disciplinary policy and procedures.” The specific reason listed on the notice is that page 10 of ULK “depicts excessive force against policy using impact weapons.”

First and foremost, the content that is being alleged as violating code A is a piece of art on page 10 which was made by a prisoner. This is protected under the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression and as such it is unconstitutional to censor our publication on this basis.

This being said, we also cannot find anything in Division of Prisons policies that prohibit depictions of “excessive force” as is alleged in the notice. The only somewhat related item we can find is in policy D.0100 where “depictions of unlawful violence” are prohibited. We agree that the art piece is a depiction of violence, but it is in no way unlawful. In fact, your very own policy F.1500 on “Use of Force” specifically lays out guidelines for when it is appropriate to beat prisoners with such “impact weapons.” How could an act which your institution permits and encourages be unlawful?

Furthermore, we would direct you towards the following disclaimer that we include in every issue of ULK on page 2: “We encourage prisoners to join [our] battles while explicitly discouraging them from engaging in any violence or illegal acts.” We therefore fail to see how ULK is violating code A and purportedly advocating for “[t] commission of criminal activity” while simultaneously explicitly disavowing such activity.

We request the decision to withhold Under Lock & Key Issue 84 be vacated and the publication be forwarded to Mr. XXXXXX. Failure to provide appropriate notice and adherence to your policies may result in legal action.

Please govern yourself accordingly.

Under Lock & Key Winter 2024 Page: 10 was disapproved for: In violation Code D

"Depiction that may encourage a group disruption."

April 30, 2024

Director of Operations
North Carolina Division of Prisons
831 W. Morgan Street, MSC 4261
Raleigh, NC 27699-4261

Re: LETTER TO PUBLISHER


To Whom It May Concern:

We are in receipt of your censorship notice for the publication Under Lock & Key Issue 84 (hereafter “ULK”). We are the publishers of ULK. For administrative purposes, we’d like to note that this notice is dated to April 2, 2024 and was received by us on April 27, 2024. A copy of your notice is enclosed within.

We would like to note that said censorship notice does not include any information about the facility to which ULK was sent to nor any information about the prisoner it was sent to. We object to this practice on the basis of the prisoner’s Due Process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The listed reason for censorship is that the publication allegedly violates code D of North Carolina Division of Prisons policy D.0100. Code D in this policy states that publications received by prisoners must not facilitate “violence, disorder, insurrection, or terrorist/gang activities against individuals, groups, organizations, the government or any of its’ institutions.” The specific reason listed on the notice is that page 10 of ULK contains a “depiction which may encourage a group disruption.”

First and foremost, the content that is being alleged as violating code D is a piece of art on page 10 which was made by a prisoner. This is protected under the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression and as such it is unconstitutional to censor our publication on this basis.

This being said, we find the reasoning listed in the notice to be highly hypocritical. Your institution claims that depicting a prisoner being beat by a correctional officer “may encourage a group disruption,” yet your very own policy F.1500 on “Use of Force” specifically lays out guidelines for when it is appropriate to beat prisoners with such “impact weapons.” How can you simultaneously condone a violent act in your institution while prohibiting any artistic expression depicting said violent act for fear it may cause a security concern?

Furthermore, we would direct you towards the following disclaimer that we include in every issue of ULK on page 2: “We encourage prisoners to join [our] battles while explicitly discouraging them from engaging in any violence or illegal acts.” We therefore fail to see how ULK is violating code D and purportedly advocating for “violence, disorder, insurrection, or terrorist/gang activity” while simultaneously explicitly disavowing such acts.

We request the decision to withhold Under Lock & Key Issue 84 be vacated and the publication be forwarded to its intended recipient(s). Failure to provide appropriate notice and adherence to your policies may result in legal action.

Please govern yourself accordingly.


Sincerely,

July 8, 2024

Department of Corrections
ATTN: Library Services Administrator
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500

Re: Notice of Rejection or Impoundment of Publications


To Whom It May Concern:

We are in receipt of your notice of censorship for the publication of Under Lock & Key Issue 85
(hereafter ULK) sent to one ****, dated June 12, 2024, which we received on June 28, 2024. A copy of this notice is included herein. We are the publishers of Under Lock & Key.

The listed reason for censorship is that the publication in question allegedly satisfies the criteria justifying its impoundment under sections (15)(i) and (15)(p) of Rule 33-501.401. These sections condone the prohibition of material which either “encourages riot, insurrection, rebellion, organized prison protest,” or “presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system.”

As the publishers of ULK, we know that no material fitting any part of these descriptions can be found anywhere in the publication. Furthermore, we refer you to look at page 2 of ULK where state that we “explicitly discourag[e]” our supporters “from engaging in any violence or illegal acts.” We find it difficult to reconcile this declaration, which we print in nearly all our publications, with FDOC’s accusation of us encouraging “riot, insurrection, rebellion” and presenting threats “to the security [and] order” of FDOC.

In addition, please refer to Crofton v. Roe, 170 F.3d 957 (9th Cir. 1999) where the courts found that when censoring publications on the basis of security concerns in prisons, it is unacceptable when authorities do not, “attempt to explain in what way publications, by any particular characteristics of their own, threaten security or contribute to other problems the state asserts the regulations are designed to avoid.” We would assert that merely listing the page numbers and titles of individual articles does not adequately “attempt to explain” the security concerns you have

We request the decision to withhold issue 85 of Under Lock & Key be vacated and the publication be
forwarded to ****. Failure to provide appropriate notice and adherence to your policies may
result in legal action.

Please govern yourself accordingly.


Sincerely,

MIM Distributors

July 8, 2024
Department of Corrections
ATTN: Library Services Administrator
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500

Re: Notification of Rejection or Impoundment of Publications

To Whom It May Concern:

We are in receipt of your censorship notice for the publication Fundamental Political Line of the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons (hereafter shortened to FPL) sent to one **** at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, dated June 13, 2024, which we received on June 28, 2024. A copy of this notice is enclosed within. We are the publishers of FPL.

The listed reason for censorship is that FPL allegedly violates sections (15)(d) and (15)(p) of Rule 33-501.401, FAC in that it “contains a tattoo pattern or photograph that is large and distinctive enough to be used as a tattoo pattern” and/or “otherwise presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system.”

As the publishers of FPL, we know that no material fitting any criteria of the above descriptions can be found anywhere in the publication. In fact, you will find that on page 6 of FPL the publication includes a disclaimer actively discouraging the behavior it is accused of promoting where it is written: “We encourage prisoners to join these battles while explicitly discouraging them from engaging in any violence or illegal acts.”

Furthermore, we take particular issue with section (15)(d) as a legal basis on which to violate an individual’s First Amendment rights. Given that nowhere in FPL do we provide instructions on how to apply tattoos or how to manufacture tattoo materials, our alleged violation of section (15)(d) must be for including pieces of art in the publication. The vagueness of the language in section (15)(d) provides FDOC the power to censor any piece of mail that includes art given that some arbitrary FDOC employee deems said art could feasibly be used as a pattern for tattooing. In effect, this gives FDOC carte blanche to censor almost any mail sent to a prisoner with complete impunity which is obviously an overstepping of administrative power and a gross violation of the prisoner’s First Amendment rights.

We request the decision to withhold FPL be vacated and the publication be forwarded to ****. Failure to provide appropriate notice and adherence to your policies may result in legal action.

Please govern yourself accordingly.


Sincerely,

MIM Distributors

DENIED BY OII FOR STG by McCann

also cites and (15)(p) otherwise presents a threat to the security, order or rehabilitation objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.

Page 35: any prisoner actively opposing revolution should be eliminated ASAP
Page 38: revolutionary action gave rise to an alternate political, ethical and moral universe where established terms like "murder" and "killing" failed to convey the meaning of taking lives that many believed deserved to be taken.
The whole publication uses past violence to justify future rebellion.

May 22, 2024

ATTN: Library Services Administrator
Department of Corrections
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500

Re: Notification of Rejection or Impoundment of Publications

To Whom It May Concern:

We are in receipt of your censorship notice for the publication Tip of the Spear sent to one XXXXXX XXXXXX DC#XXXXXX at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, dated April 2, 2024, which we received on May 10, 2024. A copy of this notice is enclosed within.

The listed reason for censorship is that Tip of the Spear allegedly violates sections (15)(i) and (15)(p) of Rule 33-501.401, FAC in that it “is dangerously inflammatory in that it advocates or encourages riot, insurrection, rebellion, organized prison protest, disruption of the institution, or the violation of federal law, state law, or Department rules” and/or “otherwise presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system.” Furthermore, the notice lists two excerpts from pages 35 and 38 to support these allegations.

As distributors of Tip of the Spear, we know that no material fitting any criteria of the above description can be found anywhere in the publication. The book describes a significant historical event that occurred in the context of a correctional facility in the United States, but in no way does this description “advocate or encourage” acts of riot or rebellion. As for the aforementioned excerpts, one is a quote from a prisoner who participated in the Attica riot and one is a description by the author of the riot participants’ mindsets at the time. This is obviously an inane basis on which to censor the publication as it is akin to censoring a historical work which focuses on World War II for being antisemitic merely for mentioning the Holocaust or Nazi Germany.

We request the decision to withhold Tip of the Spear be vacated and the publication be forwarded to Mr. XXXXXX. Failure to provide appropriate notice and adherence to your policies may result in legal action.

Please govern yourself accordingly.


Sincerely,

"Suspected drug laced paper sent in via mail"

Sometime in April the prisoner was pulled out of the law library and questioned in the shakedown room by Institutional Investigator Cochran. I.I. had test the mail for drugs and it came up negative. The prisoner pointed out that it was clearly ink from the paper being folded and mailed and I.I. staff agreed.

1. Copy of original confiscated letter by I.I. on 3/21/2024 from MIM Publishers to be preserved for litigation.
2. Camera footage from I.I.'s shakedown room with me from April 17, 2024 7am-9am
3. I want test results preserved from the 3/21/24 letter that was confiscated.

"The confiscation sheet is attached for your records and will be scanned with this into your file. OII has preserved the video of the interview, and you were also explained the process in the interview. The item was tested and determined not to be a narcotic and the item was given back to you."

To preserve the Original letter from MIM Distributors that I.I. confiscated on 3/21/24 citing it was drug laced. I.I. released a copy of the letter to me on April 17, 2024, telling me that it was tested and results came back negative. Charges of trafficking were dismissed. This original letter will show it only contained smeared ink on the letter from the print, folded and mailed 2000 miles. The original letter is needed for litigation in case NO. 1:23-cv.01964-JRS.TAB