Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

To whom it may concern,

Please be advised that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has denied the publication, Under Lock & Key, Nov./Dec 2014 No. 41, from distribution to inmates in the Department of Corrections. This publication was found to be in violation of PA DOC Policy 803 ADM a. Security (3) "writings that advocate violence, insurrection, or guerrilla warfare against the government or any of its facilities or which create a danger within the content of the correctional facility"; as well as section (5) "....material that could cause a threat to the inmate, staff or facility security". You can review the PA DOC 803 policy on our public website at www.cor.pa.gov.

The articles in violation of policy include "Don't Loot, Organize" and Hystory is On Our Side.

If you would like to appeal this decision, you must do so in writing to the address below within 10 working days.

Thank you.

DIANA WOODSIDE | Director of Policy & Legislative Affairs
Department of Corrections
1920 Technology Parkway
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Phone: 717-728-4119 | Fax: 717-728-4177
www.cor.state.pa.us

DIANA WOODSIDE | Director of Policy & Legislative Affairs
Department of Corrections
1920 Technology Parkway
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050

9 February 2015

RE: censorship of Under Lock & Key 41

Dear Ms. Woodside,

This letter is in response to your email regarding the censorship of issue 41 of the newsletter Under Lock & Key. Every issue of Under Lock & Key, clearly states, ?MIM(Prisons) and its publications explicitly oppose the use of armed struggle at this time in the imperialist countries (including the United States).? Similarly, the article cited for being in violation of your policies reads, ?Am I advocating or promoting random, unorganized violence and looting? No, I am not. I am simply stating an hystorical fact. Never in the hystory of humynkind has an oppressor ever stopped oppressing until those who were being oppressed stopped them, using structured and protracted violence aimed at replacing the powers that be and totally changing the system before them.? Therefore, I am objecting to the assertion that this article ?advocates violence, insurrection , or guerrilla warfare? as your notice stated. The article in question is criticizing the use of violence in real life that resulted in the deaths of real people.

As a government department, it is prohibited for you to use your powers to repress the sharing of ideas by the citizenry because you disagree with the opinions being expressed (in this case that violence has never been ended without organized violence). The Supreme Court decision governing the First Amendment in prisons in the United States (Thornburgh, 490 U.S. at 416 n.14) is clear that regulations barring writings that "express 'inflammatory political, racial, religious or other views'" were not sufficiently "neutral" or "unrelated to the suppression of expression" to be legally allowable. There is no direct and demonstrable threat to institutional security by the sharing of these ideas and beliefs within Pennsylvania prisons.

Therefore I am appealing for your reconsideration on this decision, and asking that you deliver copies of Under Lock & Key 41 that were sent to people held in PADOC prisons.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter,

Superintendent Robert Gilmore
State Correctional Institution Greene
175 Progressive Dr
Waynesburg, PA 15370-8090

January 12, 2015


Re: Censorship of XXX's mail; and special mail regulations via 28 CFR 540-20(a); 28 CFR 540.70(4)(b)



Superintendent Gilmore,

Our organization publishes a newsletter known as Under Lock & Key (ULK). We publish news on various topics concerning the treatment of prisoners and politics. It has come to our attention that our mail to Mr. XXX is being censored: it is not being provided to him though it poses no threat to the safety or security to your facility.


28CFR 540.70(4)(b) states in relevant part:

"The warden may reject a publication only if it is determined detrimental to the security, good order, or discipline of the institution or if it might facilitate criminal activity. The warden may not reject a publication solely because its content is religious, philosophical, political, social or sexual, or because its content is unpopular or repugnant?"


Below is a list of the mail we sent to Mr. XXX over the past year which was censored:

Under Lock & Key #40 sent 9/26/2014
Under Lock & Key 39 sent 8/1/2014

In addition we have learned that many other publications sent to Mr. XXX over the past few years also never reached him.

We request to receive notice and specific reasoning (if any) for the censorship or nondelivery of any of our mail or publications sent to Mr. XXX pursuant to BOP policy. We request that Mr. XXX be notified as well (see 28 CFR 540.13). This notification will enable us to appeal and pursue litigation.

Moreover, we are requesting that our correspondence with Mr. XXX be treated and processed as "special mail" which mandates that said mail be signed for by Mr. XXX and logged into a special mail log book, see 28 CFR 540.20(a): "An inmate may write through "special mail" to representatives of the news media specified by name or title (see, 540.2(b))."

We make this formal request after repeated nondelivery of newsletters and other mail sent to Mr. XXX. Because of this censorship we make this formal complaint in hopes you will address this problem decisively and expeditiously so that no other action is necessary.


To summarize we request:
- A review of the censorship of mail sent to Mr. XXX
- To be provided with details on the nature of the material that was found to violate prison policy and merit censorship
- Notification of censorship of all future mail be provided to both MIM(Prisons) and Mr. XXX in a timely manner
- Processing as "special mail" our correspondence with Mr. XXX in the future.


Thank you for your time and consideration in this most important matter.


Respectfully,


MIM(Prisons)
PO Box 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140