MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Prisoner files administrative grievance because never received ULKs or RCP newspapers Download Documentation
07/02/2014
Prisoner has not been notified of censorship
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I have yet to receive Under Lock & Key 38 (May 2014) whith I should've received, be in possession of right now. Nor have I been presented with a censorship notification form for ULK 38.
07/16/2014
MIM Distributors notifies Asst. Director and Warden that publication not censored properly.
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Assistant Director of Support Services
North Carolina Department of Corrections
Division of Prisons
4260 MSC
Raleigh, NC, 27699-4260
July 16, 2014
RE: Censorship incident occurred at Tabor Correctional Institution ? exclusion of publications sent to prisoner xxx
Dear Assistant Director,
I am writing this letter about what seems to be a censorship incident that recently occurred at Tabor Correctional Institution in Tabor City, North Carolina.
MIM Distributors sent the above mentioned prisoner an issue of a publication titled Under Lock & Key. Precisely MIM Distributors sent Mr. xxx:
Under Lock & Key, issue 38 on 05/30/2014
We recently learned from the prisoner (Mr. xxx) that he never received the publication listed above. Nor did he receive any determination of your Department explaining whether and why the publications were censored. MIM Distributors didn?t receive any notice of censorship determination either.
Your Division of Prisons Policy D.0100 states at sections D.0103 and D.0107 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. The same Policy obligates the Warden to come to a determination and notify the prisoner within 7 days from the arrival of the publication.
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 Mr. xxx, nor MIM Distributors were notified of the censorship decision.
In refusing to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard to both the prisoner and the publisher, 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.
With the present letter, MIM Distributors requests
- to know whether or not a determination has been made over the mentioned publications;
- 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.
- We also request that adequate notice be provided to the prisoner,
- and that future incoming mail from MIM Distributors to prisoners held at Tabor CI be handled in accordance with NCDPS policies and procedures, and federal and state law.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
MIM Distributors
P.O. Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140
PRC notifies MIM Dist of censorship for "encourages insurrection and disorder" Download Documentation
07/25/2014
Facility Head tells prisoner that newsletters were never received at facility Download Documentation
07/29/2014
Prisoner still has not been notified of censorship of ULK 38
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I received your letter dated July 16, 2014 via legal mail. The TCI Mailroom Staff opened your letter in my presence on 7/24/2014. I still to this day do NOT have in my possession Under Lock & Key No. 36 nor No. 38. NOR have I ben presented with any censorship notification form of any kind for either of these issues.
Assistant Director of Support Services
North Carolina Department of Corrections
Division of Prisons
4260 MSC
Raleigh, NC, 27699-4260
August 7, 2014
RE: Censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 38 (May/June 2014)
Dear Assistant Director,
On July 30, 2014 we received a censorship determination from Fay Lassiter, Chair, Publication Review Committee regarding our publication titled Under Lock & Key No. 38 (May/June 2014). This newsletter was sent via USPS Presorted Standard mail to several prisoners currently held in different facilities of your Department.
The determination states that the publication was disapproved for delivery to the prisoners because page 4 of the issue allegedly violates North Carolina Division of Prisons policy D.0100. The specific reason cited is indicated at Reason .0109 D of the policy (?violence, disorder, insurrection or terrorist/gang activities against individuals, groups, organizations the government or any of its institutions?). The comment noted is ?Encourages insurrection and disorder.?
Page 4 of this particular issue of Under Lock & Key contains three articles focusing on the United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP). The UFPP is aimed to prevent infighting amongst prisoners, which is commonly known to be the primary source of violence within prisons. It is clearly not a threat to the safety of any person, and is in fact an attempt to quell the violence that runs rampant all across the prison system. This attempt is not without basis; unity around common principles has been proven historically to eliminate violence among differing groups, even in prisons. How can information on making peace within prisons present a threat to the security, good order, or discipline of the correctional system? Without doubt, if there were less prisoner-on-prisoner violence, it would relieve much of the occupational hazard for Correctional Officers and actually increase the security and good order of the correctional system, and personal self-discipline of the prisoners.
Additionally, in your Policy & Procedures D.0100 Publications Received/Posessed by Inmates, at .0103 (b), it states ?Descriptions and justifications should be specific enough to enable the Publication Review Committee (if there is an appeal) to turn to each listed page and immediately identify which words or images were disapproved and why.? I know this Prcedure relates to the notes the Warden makes when referring to publication to the Publication Review Committee. However, I am interested in which specific words or images on page 4 of Under Lock & Key No. 38 that the NCDPS finds offensive.
In addition to NCDPS Policy & Procedures, the U.S. Supreme Court has already stated in Procunier v. Martinez, 416, U.S. 396 (1974) and in Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490, U.S. at 416 n. 14 (1989), that prison officials violate the First Amendment when for reasons unrelated to legitimate penological interests they engage in ?censorship of . . . expression of ?inflammatory political, racial, religious or other views?.
Furthermore, the motivation alleged to support the censorship determination seems to be too vague and not sufficiently articulate to satisfy the threshold of adequate motivation established by the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal Courts have stated in several occasions that "Prison authorities cannot rely on general or conclusory assertions to support their policies." Walker v. Sumner (9th Cir. 1990) 917 F.2d 382, 385 and that "Unsupported security claims couldn't justify infringement on First Amendment rights." Crofton v. Roe (9th Cir. 1999) 170 F.3d 957
Lastly, the Committee?s letter of disapproval does not provide any indications as to the respect of the procedure described in section D.0104 of your Policy & Procedures ? Chapter D. Particularly, the Committee does not indicate whether each member of the Committee has indeed conducted an independent review, the result of the review, whether the Committee was overruled by the Chairperson and based on what reasons. The lack of the above information does not allow the publisher (MIM Distributors) to fully comprehend the motivation of the disapproval, implicitly depriving it of its right to appeal.
With the present letter MIM Distributors would like to:
(1) appeal the negative determination to censor the above-named publication;
(2) request the decision be reversed and the publication be delivered to the intended recipients as soon as possible;
(3) be provided with detailed minutes of the Publication Review Committee's independent reviews regarding this publication; and
(4) ask that the censorship of this publication be discussed at the next quarterly meeting between the Publication Review Committee and the Chief of Program Services to ensure its compliance with all NCDPS Policy & Procedures as well as United States law.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
CC: Affected parties
09/08/2014
Publication Review Committe upholds censorship of ULK 38 for page 4, column 3, paragraph 3 Download Documentation
09/12/2014
Asst Director Bostic reasserts that Tabor never received ULK 38 for this prisoner Download Documentation
MIM Distributors appealed for independent review
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Assistant Section Chief
Support Services
4260 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4260
17 May 2014
RE: censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 37
To Whom It May Concern,
I am requesting an independent review of the decision to censor Under Lock & Key 37. Notice of censorship was received by MIM Distributors on 15 May 2014 and I am writing you on 17 May 2014. I requested reviews of the decisions to censor the previous two issues of ULK in March and January, respectively, but my requests were not responded to.
In addition, MIM Distributors has gone so far as to remove all content from page 2 of the newsletter, since the NCDPS refused to indicate what content on that page was being used to justify censoring every issue of Under Lock & Key.
In the most recent incident Fay Lassiter has cited an article on fundraising and using money wisely and claims that it advocates ?Violence, disorder, insurrection or terrorist/gang activities against individuals, groups, organizations, the government or any of its' institutions.? I assert that this is a baseless accusation, and am requesting once again an explanation as to what content exactly your department finds to substantiate these claims in Under Lock & Key. MIM Distributors has acted in good faith to adjust the content of its mail to accommodate the restrictions of your department, but cannot continue to do so when all of its mail is censored without explanation.
06/04/2014
Assistant Director allows ULK 36 but upholds censorship of ULK 37 Download Documentation
06/26/2014
MIM Dist. appeals ULK37 censorship again and asks Bostic to follow procedure on ULK36
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Cynthia Bostic
Assistant Director of Support Services
North Carolina Department of Corrections
Division of Prisons
4274 MSC
Raleigh, NC, 27699-4274
Re: Approval of issue No. 36 of Under Lock & Key. Disapproval of No. 37 of Under Lock & Key.
June 24, 2014
Dear Assistant Director Bostic,
We received on June 13, 2014 your response to our appeal of the Publication Review Committee decision to disapprove Under Lock & Key Nos. 36 and 37. Despite the letter being dated June 4, 2014, it is in fact postmarked June 11, 2014.
Regarding Under Lock & Key No. 36:
As to the approval of issue No. 36, we do not understand the reason why we should resubmit the publication ?to be received by inmates?, as you state in your letter. As you are certainly aware, section D.0105(d) of your Policy and Procedures, Chapter D, prescribes that all disapproved publications are held by the Review Committee pending the completion of the publisher?s appeal procedure. The policy specifies that, upon completion of the procedure, disapproved publications are returned to the facility and that approved publications are also ?returned to the facility from which they were received?, obviously enough to be then distributed to the prisoners to which they were originally sent. It would make no sense to return to the facilities only the disapproved publications, while obligating the publisher, upon the positive completion of the appeal procedure, to re-send the approved ones, which incidentally and illegitimately burdens the publisher with additional costs for which they should not be responsible. We are therefore requesting that the all the copies of the approved publication be returned to the facilities from which they came from and be distributed to the prisoners to which they were originally sent.
Regarding Under Lock & Key No. 37:
As to the disapproval of No. 37, you quote some language on page three, second column, paragraph 1 as the reason for disapproval. First, the phrases you quote are actually on page 1, second column, paragraph 1 of the publication. Furthermore, we disagree with your statement that the language could ever constitute a reason for disapproval. The language that you quote simply reports some opinions that encourage prisoners to make use of their constitutional rights, such as beginning legal action in case of abuses, torts and so forth. We do not comprehend how stopping ordering packages (a perfectly legitimate right that all prisoner have) might encourage or support insurrection, as you surprisingly state. None of the quoted language can be brought back to any of the legitimate reasons for disapproval, as they are listed at section D.0109 of the Policy.
Furthermore, the motivation alleged to support the censorship determination seems to be too vague and not sufficiently articulate to satisfy the threshold of adequate motivation established by the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal Courts have stated in several occasions that "Prison authorities cannot rely on general or conclusory assertions to support their policies." Walker v. Sumner (9th Cir. 1990) 917 F.2d 382, 385 and that "Unsupported security claims couldn't justify infringement on First Amendment rights." Crofton v. Roe (9th Cir. 1999) 170 F.3d 957.
Based on the above considerations, we request that you follow your Department's own Policy and Procedure in the further handling of Under Lock & Key No. 36. We expect that the previously censored issues will be returned to the Warden/Superintendents with your decision to approve the publication, and then the held issues will be distributed to their intended recipients, the prisoners, at your Department's expense.
Secondly, we request that your censorship determination regarding issue No. 37 of Under Lock & Key be reversed and that the publication be allowed to prisoners held at any facility of your Department.
Lastly, we request to be sent an up-to-date copy of the Master List of Disapproved Publications.
Please, be advised that in case you persist on your position to disapprove No. 37 of Under Lock & Key, we will consider beginning legal action to protect and enforce our rights as publishers in this matter.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
MIM Distributors
CC: Affected parties
07/30/2014
Asst. Director Bostic says Master List of Disapproved Publications not distributed "without cause" Download Documentation
08/07/2014
MIM Dist. submits Record Request for MLDP
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August 7, 2014
Communications Office
North Carolina Department of Public Safety
4201 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4201
RECORDS REQUEST
Dear Records Request Officer:
Pursuant to the state open records act, I request access to and copies of the most recent edition of the Master List of Disapproved Publications, maintained by the Publication Review Committee of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.
On July 30, 2014, Assistant Director of Support Services Cynthia Bostic informed my office that ?we do not distribute without cause, the Master List of Disapproved Publications.? However, the distribution company I provide legal assistance for has had several articles of mail censored to prisoners held in NCDPS facilities, including newsletters, magazines, and personalized letters. I find it easily justifiable why any entity should be granted access to this information, whether to track their own censorship or to be aware of the publications that are commonly censored within NCDPS so to avoid violating NCDPS policy or offending NCDPS staff.
These documents can be sent to me at the street address above. If there are copying fees you can also email the documents to mim@prisoncensorship.info, or notify me of the cost via email.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act.
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
MIM Distributors appeals censorship, requesting explanation
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Cynthia Bostic, Assistant Director
Support Services
4260 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4260
12 March 2014
RE: censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 36
To Ms. Bostic,
On March 11, 2014 MIM Distributors received notice of censorship of their newsletter Under Lock & Key, issue number 36. Once again, the reason given was ?A code? and page 2 was cited. Once again, I am requesting a review of this decision by your office.
When you respond, I am requesting that you provide an explanation of what portion of Under Lock & Key you find objectionable and why. To date you have not told me what the reason is for censoring any issue of Under Lock & Key, nor have you told me what portion of page 2 is objectionable to you. As I have pointed out to you countless times now, your claims cannot be addressed if you do not tell us what they are. If you cannot provide me with this information, please explain to me why this is not possible. Your refusal to do so will be regarded as a lack of good faith in resolving the ongoing obstruction of MIM Distributor's mail to prisoners held by the state of North Carolina.
This letter is the same as my January 31, 2014 letter regarding ULK issue 35, which you failed to respond to.
Please respond this time,
05/17/2014
MIM Distributors appealed for independent review of ULK 36 and 37
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Assistant Section Chief
Support Services
4260 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-4260
17 May 2014
RE: censorship of Under Lock & Key No. 37
To Whom It May Concern,
I am requesting an independent review of the decision to censor Under Lock & Key 37. Notice of censorship was received by MIM Distributors on 15 May 2014 and I am writing you on 17 May 2014. I requested reviews of the decisions to censor the previous two issues of ULK in March and January, respectively, but my requests were not responded to.
In addition, MIM Distributors has gone so far as to remove all content from page 2 of the newsletter, since the NCDPS refused to indicate what content on that page was being used to justify censoring every issue of Under Lock & Key.
In the most recent incident Fay Lassiter has cited an article on fundraising and using money wisely and claims that it advocates ?Violence, disorder, insurrection or terrorist/gang activities against individuals, groups, organizations, the government or any of its' institutions.? I assert that this is a baseless accusation, and am requesting once again an explanation as to what content exactly your department finds to substantiate these claims in Under Lock & Key. MIM Distributors has acted in good faith to adjust the content of its mail to accommodate the restrictions of your department, but cannot continue to do so when all of its mail is censored without explanation.
06/04/2014
Assistant Director allows ULK 36 but upholds censorship of ULK 37 Download Documentation
06/26/2014
MIM Dist. appeals ULK37 censorship again and asks Bostic to follow procedure on ULK36
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Cynthia Bostic
Assistant Director of Support Services
North Carolina Department of Corrections
Division of Prisons
4274 MSC
Raleigh, NC, 27699-4274
Re: Approval of issue No. 36 of Under Lock & Key. Disapproval of No. 37 of Under Lock & Key.
June 24, 2014
Dear Assistant Director Bostic,
We received on June 13, 2014 your response to our appeal of the Publication Review Committee decision to disapprove Under Lock & Key Nos. 36 and 37. Despite the letter being dated June 4, 2014, it is in fact postmarked June 11, 2014.
Regarding Under Lock & Key No. 36:
As to the approval of issue No. 36, we do not understand the reason why we should resubmit the publication ?to be received by inmates?, as you state in your letter. As you are certainly aware, section D.0105(d) of your Policy and Procedures, Chapter D, prescribes that all disapproved publications are held by the Review Committee pending the completion of the publisher?s appeal procedure. The policy specifies that, upon completion of the procedure, disapproved publications are returned to the facility and that approved publications are also ?returned to the facility from which they were received?, obviously enough to be then distributed to the prisoners to which they were originally sent. It would make no sense to return to the facilities only the disapproved publications, while obligating the publisher, upon the positive completion of the appeal procedure, to re-send the approved ones, which incidentally and illegitimately burdens the publisher with additional costs for which they should not be responsible. We are therefore requesting that the all the copies of the approved publication be returned to the facilities from which they came from and be distributed to the prisoners to which they were originally sent.
Regarding Under Lock & Key No. 37:
As to the disapproval of No. 37, you quote some language on page three, second column, paragraph 1 as the reason for disapproval. First, the phrases you quote are actually on page 1, second column, paragraph 1 of the publication. Furthermore, we disagree with your statement that the language could ever constitute a reason for disapproval. The language that you quote simply reports some opinions that encourage prisoners to make use of their constitutional rights, such as beginning legal action in case of abuses, torts and so forth. We do not comprehend how stopping ordering packages (a perfectly legitimate right that all prisoner have) might encourage or support insurrection, as you surprisingly state. None of the quoted language can be brought back to any of the legitimate reasons for disapproval, as they are listed at section D.0109 of the Policy.
Furthermore, the motivation alleged to support the censorship determination seems to be too vague and not sufficiently articulate to satisfy the threshold of adequate motivation established by the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal Courts have stated in several occasions that "Prison authorities cannot rely on general or conclusory assertions to support their policies." Walker v. Sumner (9th Cir. 1990) 917 F.2d 382, 385 and that "Unsupported security claims couldn't justify infringement on First Amendment rights." Crofton v. Roe (9th Cir. 1999) 170 F.3d 957.
Based on the above considerations, we request that you follow your Department's own Policy and Procedure in the further handling of Under Lock & Key No. 36. We expect that the previously censored issues will be returned to the Warden/Superintendents with your decision to approve the publication, and then the held issues will be distributed to their intended recipients, the prisoners, at your Department's expense.
Secondly, we request that your censorship determination regarding issue No. 37 of Under Lock & Key be reversed and that the publication be allowed to prisoners held at any facility of your Department.
Lastly, we request to be sent an up-to-date copy of the Master List of Disapproved Publications.
Please, be advised that in case you persist on your position to disapprove No. 37 of Under Lock & Key, we will consider beginning legal action to protect and enforce our rights as publishers in this matter.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter and look forward to your response.
Notes from prisoner regarding illegal handling of ULK by mailroom staff
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It usually takes between 5-16 days for me to receive mailings after the date you send the item. I just three days ago received the unconfirmed mail form (dated 6/25/14) concerning ULK 36's approval for receipt by me from you. No I still have not received ULK 36 and I'm not going to ever receive ULK 36 from NCDPS because NCDPS mailroom staff never presented me with neither a disapproval waiver/appeal nor statewide ban notification form. In other words, NCDPS mailroom staff just threw away/tossed that issue.
Form Filed: Notice to Inmate of Disapproval & Appeal/Waiver Form (from prisoner to MIM Dist)
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Reason .0109D
Violence, disorder, insurrection or terrorist/gang activities against individuals, groups, organizations, the government or any of its institutions.
Page Number(s): 4
Reason for Disapproval: Encourages insurrection and disorder.
Prisoner chooses to appeal censorship.
Explain your appeal:
1st Amendment rights
Form Filed: Lettter to Inmate, Addressee/Sender Concerning Correspondence (From facility to prisoner
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Correspondence... have been reviewed by the Correspondence Review Committee.
It has been determined that you cannot possess this correspondence and or contents.
Contents witheld only? X
Describe contents: Copy of book
Rease .0310 E The mail concerns plans to violate departmental rules and policies necessary to maintain security and control.
Comments: Correspondence violates DOC Policy & Procedure, in that the item(s) were mailed from a source other than a legitimate publisher.
![[Download Documentation]](https://www.prisoncensorship.info/docs/c5572.jpg){kind=link}
