“I learned that Florida prison officials have banned an issue of the Militant newspaper in violation of inmates’ constitutional rights and the right of the Militant to reach its subscribers,” Yecenia Arango, assistant branch manager of the St. Louis County Library in Missouri, wrote to Florida prison authorities. She urged them to “reverse this blatant violation of the right of workers behind bars to read the news they want and freedom of the press.”
Arango is one of a growing number of individuals and organizations speaking out against the ban by authorities at Jackson Correctional Institution in Malone, Florida, on the April 29 issue of the Militant.
Along with Arango, 19 other librarians attending the American Library Association Annual Conference in San Diego June 27-July 2 sent letters calling for lifting the impoundment of the paper to the Florida Literature Review Committee. They came from seven states and included former prison librarian Danielle Ball.
The Militant has appealed to the Florida Department of Corrections to overturn the ban.
Organizations sending letters calling for the ban to be lifted include the American Civil Liberties Union Florida, Florida Press Association, PEN America and Amnesty International. Petitions from workers at a number of plants organized by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union have been sent to the committee.
Jackson Correctional Institution authorities claimed the April 29 issue “shows dead person being paraded around on a motorcycle; magazine depict hatred toward a specific race.”
“I’m a Florida farmer writing to urge the Literature Review Committee overturn the impoundment,” Karl Butts wrote from Plant City, Florida, July 7.
“This widely circulated Associated Press photo is included in an article opposing Jew-hatred,” Butts writes. “It shows the body of a Jewish man murdered by Hamas during its deadly Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel being driven around Gaza City to cheers by the Islamist group’s supporters. Far from encouraging violence, the Militant conveys a clear message against hatred toward any specific group.”
Prison authorities claim the photo is “dangerously inflammatory” and violates prison rules, including the encouragement of “riot, insurrection, rebellion” and “organized prison protest.”
“Nothing in the photo, even standing alone, could possibly be construed as advocating or encouraging riot, insurrection, etc.,” writes Militant attorney David Goldstein in appealing the paper’s impoundment.
Over the past decade Florida prison officials have tried to suppress issues of the Militant nearly 50 times. The paper challenged every ban and has won the vast majority.
You can help! Letters can be emailed to Saritza.Legault@fdc.myflorida.com or sent to the Florida Department of Corrections, Literature Review Committee, 501 South Calhoun St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500, with copies to themilitant@mac.com.