https://themilitant.com/2018/08/04/militant-sets-fight-against-ban-in-illinois-federal-prison/
‘Militant’ sets fight against ban in Illinois federal prison
By Brian Williams
Vol. 82/No. 30
August 13, 2018
In a broadside attack on freedom of the press and political rights, the
Federal Bureau of Prisons has banned the Militant, saying it has stopped
delivering the paper to a subscriber in the federal lockup in
Greenville, Illinois. If this ruling is allowed to stand it could set a
dangerous precedent for impounding the Militant — and then other
publications — from the entire federal prison system.
The warden wrote that banning the Militant was “requested by the S.I.S.
on the grounds it is a newsweekly journal associated with the Socialist
Workers Party and encourages change by protesting and striking. Such
publication can encourage inmates to protest and conduct work strikes
which become a institution security matter.”
S.I.S. is the Special Investigative Support staff, which works with the
FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Force and other federal spy agencies,
according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“We’re asking people and groups to send letters of protest to help get
this ruling reversed,” said Militant editor John Studer.
The banning of the Militant “is an uncalled-for restriction on the
freedom of the press and prisoners’ rights,” Karin Deutsch Karlekar,
director of Free Expression at Risk Programs at PEN America, wrote to
prison authorities Aug. 1. “The Federal Bureau of Prison’s claim that
it would directly lead to rebellion has no basis and their decision to
censor the Militant should be overturned.”
The subscriber behind bars had been receiving the paper for over a year.
After being transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution in
Greenville he received a few issues, but this was brought to a halt with
the June 11 issue.
The Militant didn’t find out about this censorship until July 20 when
the paper received a notice it was now a “Rejected Publication.” The
notice said, “A publication may be rejected if it is determined
detrimental to the security, good order, or discipline of the
institution or if it might facilitate criminal activity.”
Articles in the rejected issues of the Militant discuss political
developments and point to important working-class struggles taking place
in the U.S. and abroad, aspects of which are covered by many other
newspapers and publications. Headlines in the impounded issues include,
“3,000 Rail Workers Strike Against Canadian Pacific,” “Workers in Puerto
Rico Respond to Social Disaster,” “Amnesty for All Immigrants in the
US!” and “Join July 12th Protest Against Pension Cuts!”
“To ban the Militant because it’s ‘associated with the Socialist
Workers Party’ is a ruling that the party is somehow beyond the
protections of the Constitution,” said Studer. “The SWP fought against
similar government attacks when it sued and campaigned against FBI
spying and disruption in 1973 and won.”
“Workers behind bars have the right to read the political views they
want and need, including about the struggles of workers and farmers,”
Studer said. “It helps them be part of the world and their class.”
Militant attorney David Goldstein of the prominent civil liberties law
firm Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky and Lieberman, is preparing a
challenge to the ruling.
The Militant, which is mailed to about 115 subscribers in some 60
prisons across the country, has faced a number of impoundments by prison
authorities — nearly two dozen issues in state prisons in Florida over
the past several years. All but a few were reversed on appeal. An
impoundment of an issue by authorities at the federal supermax prison in
Florence, Colorado, was overturned in 2014.
Earlier this year supporters of political rights succeeded in beating
back newly imposed Federal Bureau of Prisons moves that severely
restricted inmates in federal prisons from being able to get and read
books. The Bureau imposed a policy that books could only be ordered
through one prison-approved vendor, in a cumbersome procedure limited to
their stock, and with prices marked up 30 percent. Shipments of books
from friends and relatives were barred.
Among those who have spoken out against prison censorship of the
Militant include the American Civil Liberties Union, National Lawyers
Guild, Amnesty International, PEN America and prisoner rights, church
and other organizations.
Send letters of support to demand reversal of banning the Militant at
Greenville to Regional Director Sara M. Revell, Federal Bureau of
Prisons, Gateway Complex Tower II, 8th floor, 400 State Avenue, Kansas
City, KS 66101-2492.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •SWP: Workers need to take political power
•SWP takes party, program to workers on doorsteps
•US capitalist rulers face deepening political crisis
•‘Militant’ sets fight against ban in Illinois federal prison
•Dairy farmers: ‘Instead of making a living, we’re just making debt’
•‘Nation-state’ law sets back fight for recognition of Israel,
Palestinian state
Feature Articles •Dallas film spotlights 1973 cop murder of Santos Rodriguez
Also In This Issue •EU leaders, Greek gov’t keep squeeze on workers
•US gov’t meets with Taliban to seek end to Afghan war
•Cops who killed Eric Garner ‘should be put in jail’
•NY meeting celebrates, points to example of Cuban Revolution
On the Picket Line •Georgia school bus drivers fight for reinstatement
after sickout
Books of the Month •The fight to stop deportation of the ‘man who has no
papers’
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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