Join the fight to overturn Florida’s ban on the ‘Militant’ in state prisons
https://themilitant.com/2020/09/19/join-the-fight-to-overturn-floridas-ban-on-the-militant-in-state-prisons/
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Vol. 84/No. 38
September 28, 2020
Join fight to overturn suppression of Militant in Florida prisons.
Above, some letters sent so far.
Join fight to overturn suppression of Militant in Florida prisons.
Above, some letters sent so far.
Florida prison officials have banned four recent issues of the Militant,
preventing them from reaching dozens of subscribers behind bars there.
They claim each issue contains an article that is “dangerously
inflammatory” and “advocates or encourages riot insurrection, rebellion,
organized prison protest, disruption of the institution, or the
violation of the federal law, state law, or Department rules.”
While each ban points to an article they claim is “dangerously
inflammatory,” they never say what they find objectionable or why.
The Militant is urging supporters of freedom of the press and of the
rights of workers behind bars to join in pressing Florida Department of
Corrections Literature Review Committee to lift the bans.
Issue no. 30 was impounded for the article “Prisoners Demand Release
from Overcrowded Jails.” It describes a peaceful rally in California by
inmates’ family members and supporters urging the state government take
steps to relieve the dangerous overcrowding in prisons there amid the
COVID-19 pandemic. It also reports on a letter from a prisoner
describing conditions where he is held and a possible hunger strike by
about 20 prisoners over this situation.
After the Literature Review Committee upheld the ban, Militant attorney
David Goldstein appealed this decision. On Sept. 14 Goldstein also filed
an appeal against the impoundments of issues no. 31 and 33.
Issue no. 31 was impounded for the article “Workers Oppose Federal Cops,
Antifa Violence in Portland.” “The article unmistakably and repeatedly
opposes violence by all sides concerning the protests in Portland,
whether by antifa or by federal or local police,” Goldstein wrote.
“To read this article and conclude that it ‘is dangerously
inflammatory,’” noted Goldstein, “is simply incomprehensible,” and
certainly unconstitutional.
This topic has been extensively covered in the media, in Florida and
nationwide. The only conclusion to be drawn, Goldstein said, is that
state prison officials “are targeting the Militant because of its
political viewpoints.”
The Militant is currently mailed to 152 subscribers in 87 federal and
state prisons in 23 states, including 61 subscribers in 24 state prisons
in Florida. No other subscriber in a state or federal facility outside
of Florida has had these issues impounded, the appeal notes.
Issue no. 33 was banned because it reported on a ban of a prior issue of
the Militant. The headline read, “After Pennsylvania Prison Ban Is
Revoked, Florida Prison Bars ‘Militant.’” The Militant has been
informed that issue no. 34 was impounded for running an article
describing growing support for overturning the ban.
Florida prison officials have attempted numerous times to ban issues of
the Militant that reported on previous bans, which the Literature
Review Committee subsequently overturned. Last year, noted Goldstein,
“they overturned a series of bans of Vol. 83, Nos. 24-28, 30 for
reporting on prior censorship.” Then they stopped banning issues, until
these most recent acts of political suppression.
From mid-2017 to August 2019, Florida prison authorities banned about
three dozen issues of the Militant, over one-third of all issues. But
through a fight waged by supporters of prisoners’ rights, most of these
were reversed.
Support to end bans grows
Today’s new fight against banning the Militant has won the involvement
of a growing number of well-known organizations, including the American
Civil Liberties Foundation Florida, Amnesty International USA, Florida
Press Association, Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press and PEN
America.
“Others have told us they’re preparing letters as well,” said Militant
editor John Studer. “The more pressure brought to bear to overturn this
attack on the constitutional rights of both the paper and its readers
behind bars, the greater chance of success.”
“The Militant will never back off from its position that prisoners have
the right to read different viewpoints, to think for themselves and form
their own opinions on political questions,” said Studer.
Send letters to Dean Peterson, Literature Review Committee, Florida
Department of Corrections, 501 South Calhoun Street, Tallahassee, FL
32399 or via email at Allen.Peterson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, with a copy to
the Militant.
Letters protest Florida’s ban on the ‘Militant’ in state prisons
Florida prison officials have banned four recent issues of the Militant,
preventing them from reaching dozens of subscribers behind bars. The
Militant is urging supporters of freedom of the press and prisoners’
rights to join in pressing Florida Department of…
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Join the fight to overturn Florida’s ban on the ‘Militant’ in state prisons
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___
Robert G. Ingersoll
“Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never
inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the
Church does neither.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll,
