Freedom of thought, speech and association carry life or death consequences. Let’s fight against censorship, for censorship is a tool used by government to suppress the voices of people who take the bold stand to speak truth to power. Abolitionist Law Center sues Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for censoring The Movement magazine.
The past three years has been nowhere near great for Pennsylvania state prisoner, Robert Salim Holbrook. Salim, initially confined to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections infamous State Correctional Institution Greene, was transferred to SCI Coal Township in August 2011. Before Salim’s transfer from SCI Green, he had received all twelve issues of The Movement published by the Human Rights Coalition [HRC] since the human rights news magazine was founded in 2008.
However, after Salim’s arrival at SCI Coal Township, all issues of The Movement mailed to him began to be arbitrarily denied by mail room officials on the grounds that its content advocates violence, criminal activity, racism and is a security threat to the facility under the Pennsylvania Department Corrections, Incoming Publications Policy, 803. Policy 803, Section 3, E-3, allows any publication to be disapproved when the publication contains content considered to pose a potential threat to security. Such content is defined as the manufacture of explosives and weapons, the manufacturing of poisons, drugs, or alcohol, writings advocating violence, insurrection or guerrilla warfare, writings advocating criminal activity, racially inflammatory material, and maps that will facilitate an escape.
Mail room officials intentionally misuse Policy 803 to censor publications sent to prisoners that raise prisoners awareness of their cruel and inhumane prison conditions and treatment; that express non establishment-approved history, culture and religion, or left wing politics; that educate the public about prison community related issues of human rights and mass incarceration; and, that are critical of the Pennsylvania Department corrections officials policies and practices. Policy 803, Section 3E-2, explicitly states that no publication shall be prohibited solely on the basis that the publication is critical of penal facilities. So, mail room officials prohibit publications they personally dislike on the basis that it presents a security threat on the Policy 803 instead.
Attorney Bret Grote of the Abolitionist Law Center in Pittsburgh, PA will be representing Salim at the HRC against Pennsylvania Department Corrections officials and a recently filed 1st Amendment censorship lawsuit, under Section 1983 Civil Rights Action, for their censoring of six issues of The Movement from 2011 to 2012. On January 1, 2012, defendant Jellen denied The Movement issue number 13, alleging that pages 44-46 contained racially inflammatory material or material that could cause a threat to the inmate staff or facility security. However, pages 44-46 of issue number thirteen contained a letter from an African American prisoner discussing mass incarceration and its impact on the African American community.
Defendant Jellen then denied issue number 14 of The Movement, alleging that pages 40, 42, 48-51, and 54, advocated violence, insurrection or guerrilla warfare against the government; advocated criminal activity and contained racially inflammatory material. Yet, these pages containing stories of human rights violations within the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, the second half of the letter from the African American prisoner, and a petition for a commutation for a woman sentenced to life without parole.
Defendant Jellen also denied issue number 15 of The Movement, alleging that pages 39,
43-45 and 53, advocated violence and insurrection and posed a threat to prison security as its basis for censoring. Then, on January 23, 2013, defendant Jellen denied issue number 17 of The Movement — check this out — alleging that pages 1, 2, 3, 4+, that is every page in the publication contains racially inflammatory material or material that could cause a threat to the inmate, staff or security. Incredible.
Salim appealed the censure of all six issues of The Movement to defendants Verano and Woodside, whom each upheld the censoring actions of defendant Jellen. Attorney Bret Grote, in response stated, “This lawsuit challenges the ability of Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to target political dissent and human rights defenders with arbitrary censorship. The 1st Amendment protections at stake extend far beyond the confines of this particular case and touch upon the deadly lives of millions of people in prison. The content of the material censored by SCI Coal Township and central office officials touch on the most vital issues of the operation of the prison system in Pennsylvania; juvenile sentence to die in prison, deaths in solitary confinement, repression of human rights defenders inside prisons, advocacy efforts by families of prisoners, and the pervasive racism that defines the criminal legal system in Pennsylvania and the U.S.”
In this context, freedom of thought, speech and association, carry life-or-death consequences. Let’s fight against censorship, for censorship is a tool used by government to suppress the voices of people who take the bold stand to speak truth to power. Learn more at abolitionistlawcenter.org and https://www.hrcoalition.org by Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall,
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
