https://themilitant.com/2018/10/06/help-fight-florida-prison-officials-ongoing-censorship-of-militant/
Help fight Florida prison officials’ ongoing censorship of ‘Militant’
By Seth Galinsky
Vol. 82/No. 38
October 15, 2018
By continuously impounding issues of the socialist newsweekly the
Militant, Florida Department of Corrections officials are routinely
violating their own guidelines, and the protections of the Bill of
Rights for prisoners to read books and periodicals. The most recent
impoundment was the Sept. 17 issue, which the Militant is challenging,
as it has all the others.
Florida prison regulations list 12 reasons wardens can use to bar a
publication, and a 13th catchall that says, if “it otherwise presents a
threat to the security, good order, or discipline of the correctional
system or the safety of any person.”
The Sept. 17 issue contained two articles — “California Protest Demands
‘End Solitary Confinement!’” and “Free Ukraine Director on Hunger Strike
from Siberian Jail!” — which officials at the Florida State Prison said
ran afoul of two of the 12, and the catchall. They claim that one or
both of the articles “depicts, describes or encourages activities which
may lead to the use of physical violence or group disruption” or “is
dangerously inflammatory in that it advocates or encourages riot,
insurrection, disruption of the institution, violation of department or
institution rules.”
Of the 18 known impoundments of issues of the Militant over the last two
years, all but five have been overturned by the prison system’s
Literature Review Committee. But the committee has never offered any
explanation of why it upheld any of those bans.
One Florida prisoner wrote in 2017 in a successful grievance to
overturn the ban on an issue of the paper that “to deny me this Militant
publication is similar to dictating to us what we should read and believe.”
A prisoner in Illinois wrote to the Florida Literature Review Committee
Sept. 12 protesting another ban this year. Florida prison officials
should “set a proper example for those in its custody,” he wrote.
“Unfortunately it appears that you are not adhering to the same standard
that you wish prisoners to follow.”
Prison officials do take note of letters protesting their censorship.
Dean Peterson, head of the Literature Review Committee, wrote back to
Kim O’Brien, a Militant subscriber in Boston, saying they have
overturned the bulk of the impoundments after appeal by the paper. But,
he argued, decisions on impounding the Militant “must be made on an
issue by issue basis,” and “it is not possible for any one individual to
hand down an edict exempting the Militant from impoundment and review
any more than it is possible for one individual to arbitrarily decide
which publications are allowed into our institutions and which are not.”
“After the Attica rebellion in 1971 put a spotlight on the conditions
workers faced behind bars there,” Militant editor John Studer said,
“the New York State Department of Corrections changed their guidelines
to name the Militant as one of the publications that ‘shall generally be
approved.’”
“The Florida Department of Corrections should instruct wardens and local
prison officials to cease arbitrarily and capriciously impounding the
paper,” Studer said. “The fact that they have overturned the
overwhelming majority of the impoundments is proof that those issues
shouldn’t have been impounded in the first place.”
Prison authorities in other states are also looking for ways to restrict
the access of workers behind bars to literature and mail. Pennsylvania
just implemented new rules blocking prisoners from ordering books and
periodicals directly from publishers or distributors.
“We ask readers of the Militant to join the fight against censorship,”
said Studer. “Get your local union officials to send a letter. Talk to
your church group. Get co-workers to write.”
Send letters to Dean Peterson, Library Services Administrator, Florida
Department of Corrections, Att: Literature Review Committee, 501 South
Calhoun Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500, via email to
Allen.Peterson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, or via fax at (850) 922-2121. Please
send a copy and a contribution to continue this battle to the Militant.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •North Carolina workers confront social disaster
•US, Russian rulers, Tehran and Tel Aviv vie in Mideast
•‘Working class needs to build a labor party’
•Join SWP door-to-door campaign to boost ‘Militant,’ books, party fund!
•Help fight Florida prison officials’ ongoing censorship of ‘Militant’
•Trump pushes US rulers’ interests vs. rivals at UN General Assembly
Feature Articles •Presumption of innocence is crucial right for working
class
Also In This Issue •NY: Cuba president calls for end to US gov’t embargo
•‘Anti-gentrification fight’ is pretext for attack on art, culture that
workers need
•Argentina: ‘Abortion must be legal, in the hospital!’
On the Picket Line •Uber drivers protest low pay, as bosses pit them vs.
taxi drivers
•Tomato cannery strike leaders win jobs back
Books of the Month •How Cuban workers and farmers took power in 1959
25, 50 and 75 years ago
© Copyright 2018 The Militant - 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor - New
York, NY 10018 - themilitant@xxxxxx