http://themilitant.com/2016/8020/802055.html
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Vol. 80/No. 20 May 23, 2016
Court ruling on prison censorship undercuts rights
BY LEA SHERMAN
The Oct. 11, 2010, issue of Newsweek was never delivered to Joseph
Murchison, a long-time subscriber. It didn’t get lost in the mail. It
wasn’t misaddressed.
Officials at Missouri’s South Central Correctional Center censored that
issue on the grounds that it “promotes violence, disorder, or the
violation of state or federal law including inflammatory material.” They
cited an article titled “Hiding Behind the Web,” which described attacks
by drug cartels against the Mexican government and military, and the
accompanying photos.
Murchison, representing himself, sued in federal district court, saying
this was a violation of his First Amendment rights. During this time his
cell was searched and some of his belongings, including legal materials,
were confiscated.
Murchison was placed in administrative segregation. To better prepare
for the court hearing, he requested a postponement, which was denied.
On April 1, 2013, the district court ruled that censoring the Newsweek
issue did not violate Murchison’s First Amendment rights. Murchison
appealed. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
affirmed the lower court’s decision on March 11, 2015, stating that
“courts must be deferential to the prison officials’ views of what may
be inflammatory.”
Although the Newsweek article did not advocate violence or the breaking
of any laws, the court said prison officials could arbitrarily decide to
censor materials they judge “reinforces socially irresponsible behavior
inside prisons.”
When Murchison pointed out there were other materials with similar
content in the prison library, the appeals court said this shows that he
is able to exercise his First Amendment rights, since there is no
blanket ban on the magazine and “Murchison has alternative means to
exercise his rights.”
Emily Scheer, public relations director for Newsweek, told the Militant
the magazine had no comment on the case.
“The court decision upholding the censorship of Newsweek continues a
shameful tradition of courts abdicating their role to protect the
constitutional rights of all citizens, even prisoners and publishers,
and continues the infantilization of prisoners,” Paul Wright, editor of
Prison Legal News, told the Militant.
Prison Legal News is a monthly journal that covers matters related to
prisoners’ rights and conditions. It reported on Murchison’s case in its
April 2016 issue.
“Always take censorship seriously, appeal if you can,” Alex Friedmann,
the paper’s managing editor, said in a phone interview. “If you don’t
challenge, no one in prison will get their publications.” More than
two-thirds of Prison Legal News’ 9,000 subscribers are behind bars, and
the publication has waged numerous challenges to efforts by prison
officials to censor it, he said.
In recent years the Militant has successfully pushed back attempts by
both state and federal prison authorities to block subscribers from
receiving issues. “We defend workers’ rights, in and out of prison,
against efforts by the rulers’ politicians, courts and jailers to chip
away at constitutional protections won in struggle,” said Militant
editor John Studer, condemning the court’s ruling. “This is an attack on
the right of prisoners to read what they want, to discuss politics and
to resist prison abuses.”
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