Vol. 80/No. 20 May 23, 2016
Court ruling on prison censorship undercuts rights
Officials at Missouri’s South Central Correctional Center censored that issue on the grounds that it “promotes violence, disorder, or the violation of state or federal law including inflammatory material.” They cited an article titled “Hiding Behind the Web,” which described attacks by drug cartels against the Mexican government and military, and the accompanying photos.
Murchison, representing himself, sued in federal district court, saying this was a violation of his First Amendment rights. During this time his cell was searched and some of his belongings, including legal materials, were confiscated.
Murchison was placed in administrative segregation. To better prepare for the court hearing, he requested a postponement, which was denied.
On April 1, 2013, the district court ruled that censoring the Newsweek issue did not violate Murchison’s First Amendment rights. Murchison appealed. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s decision on March 11, 2015, stating that “courts must be deferential to the prison officials’ views of what may be inflammatory.”
Although the Newsweek article did not advocate violence or the breaking of any laws, the court said prison officials could arbitrarily decide to censor materials they judge “reinforces socially irresponsible behavior inside prisons.”
When Murchison pointed out there were other materials with similar content in the prison library, the appeals court said this shows that he is able to exercise his First Amendment rights, since there is no blanket ban on the magazine and “Murchison has alternative means to exercise his rights.”
Emily Scheer, public relations director for Newsweek, told the Militant the magazine had no comment on the case.
“The court decision upholding the censorship of Newsweek continues a shameful tradition of courts abdicating their role to protect the constitutional rights of all citizens, even prisoners and publishers, and continues the infantilization of prisoners,” Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News, told the Militant.
Prison Legal News is a monthly journal that covers matters related to prisoners’ rights and conditions. It reported on Murchison’s case in its April 2016 issue.
“Always take censorship seriously, appeal if you can,” Alex Friedmann, the paper’s managing editor, said in a phone interview. “If you don’t challenge, no one in prison will get their publications.” More than two-thirds of Prison Legal News’ 9,000 subscribers are behind bars, and the publication has waged numerous challenges to efforts by prison officials to censor it, he said.
In recent years the Militant has successfully pushed back attempts by both state and federal prison authorities to block subscribers from receiving issues. “We defend workers’ rights, in and out of prison, against efforts by the rulers’ politicians, courts and jailers to chip away at constitutional protections won in struggle,” said Militant editor John Studer, condemning the court’s ruling. “This is an attack on the right of prisoners to read what they want, to discuss politics and to resist prison abuses.”
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home