BY JOHN COX
DES MOINES, Iowa - On Friday evening, April 28, when political activist Mark Curtis was given his mail, he found a dog-eared copy of the new Pathfinder pamphlet Why Is Mark Curtis Still In Prison? Accompanying the pamphlet was a prison "property slip" signed by Ron Welder, Iowa State Penitentiary spokes-man, saying "Approved."

Two weeks earlier, authorities at the Iowa State Penitentiary had rejected delivery of the pamphlet to Curtis, insisting that it was not on the "list of approved publications" and demanding that he pay to send the pamphlet back to the bookstore that mailed it to him.

Curtis was framed up on charges of rape and burglary for his activities in defense of 17 co-workers from Mexico and El Salvador who were seized in an immigration raid at the Monfort packing plant. He has been imprisoned for six and a half years.

"This is an important victory for Curtis as well as for other prisoners and all opponents of censorship," John Studer, coordinator of the Mark Curtis Defense Committee, said when informed of the reversal by officials.

"We had just begun working with supporters of Mark and advocates of democratic rights to press state officials when we received word from Mark that we had succeeded. This was a little too raw, and the state had to backtrack."

The attempt to withhold the pamphlet was the latest in a long series of attacks on Curtis's democratic rights, measures aimed at undermining his ability to continue to be politically active and to maintain contact with the outside world. Curtis and his supporters have responded to each one of these attacks.

Within days of the initial refusal to deliver the pamphlet, messages of protests began to arrive at the prison and the office of the Corrections Department. "This is obviously an attempt to intimidate a political fighter inside the prison walls and the supporters of his fight for freedom," Andrew Haley, president of the East High Human Rights Club in Salt Lake City, Utah, wrote. "I demand that Curtis be able to receive the new pamphlet about his own fight for justice and that the attacks against him end."

Harold Ruggless, president of United Auto Workers Local 270 in Des Moines, faxed the authorities, calling the rejection "another blatant example of your ongoing war against Mark.

"I, for one, take this as a challenge and will increase my efforts on Mark's behalf," Ruggless concluded.

Taking off from the recent victory, supporters of Curtis will be continuing an aggressive campaign to distribute the once-banned pamphlet widely.

John Cox is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 431 in Des Moines.
 

Curtis Appeals Denial Of Time Off

Since Mark Curtis was sentenced to serve a year in lockup on trumped-up charges of assaulting another inmate last September, prison officials have refused to grant him any time off his lockup term for good behavior.

The classification committee assigned to meet with Curtis each month and review his situation has recommended that more than four months be cut from his lockup sentence. The prison's acting warden, Paul Hedgepath, has refused each recommendation.

In April, Curtis appealed these denials. Under prison regulations, the appeal is to the warden - the official who has made the rejections.

Last week, Curtis received a reply from Hedgepath. Instead of rejecting the appeal out of hand, the acting warden wrote: "The Classification Committee will be getting back to you on this."

Curtis will meet with the classification committee the second week of May.

In addition to appealing the decision within the prison, Curtis has written to the Iowa ombudsman, a state official responsible for hearing complaints from inmates, protesting the refusal to grant him any reduction in his sentence.  
 
 
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