Two Militant subscribers who are prisoners at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in Milton, Florida, notified the Militant that issue no. 2, dated Jan. 20, 2025, has been impounded there. But a closer read of the impoundment notice shows prison authorities impounded the issue because it had been banned at “another institution,” which it does not identify. Florida Department of Corrections authorities’ policy is that when one prison bars a publication, it is impounded at all of the state’s prisons.
The notice says the impounded issue is being held “pending review by the Department’s Literature Review Committee, because another institution believes the publication contains subject matter that is inadmissible per Section (15) of Rule 33-501.401.”
That rule authorizes impoundment if the publication “presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.”
Santa Rosa’s notice cites the front-page Militant article, “Israel fights for right to exist as a refuge from Jew-hatred,” and a text box on page 7, “Jew-hatred, ‘racial purity’ at heart of Hamas program,” as the reason the other institution impounded the issue. The first article reports on developments in the Middle East and Israel’s fight to defend itself. The second traces Hamas’ origins back to Arab forces who collaborated with Adolf Hitler in organizing the Nazi Holocaust.
In a letter protesting the ban sent to the Florida Department of Corrections Literature Review Committee, Justin Mazzola, deputy director of research for Amnesty International USA, writes, “The first article ends with a call to action for multi-religious and ethnic groups in the region to come together in the struggle for class freedom.
“The act of informing subscribers about events of the outside world and a call for class solidarity in and of itself and without more should not be a means to violate prisoners’ freedom of expression. We therefore urge the Literature Review Committee to overturn the decision to impound the Vol. 89, no. 2 issue of the Militant,” he wrote.
There are 14 Militant subscribers at the prison and 110 overall in Florida state prisons. Over the years, the Militant has fought a number of bans by Florida prison officials, winning most of them.
Militant attorney David Goldstein has written to the Literature Review Committee asking for a copy of the original ban on the issue so the paper can appeal it.
‘Militant’ ban at Phoenix jail
Militant readers can also join the fight to overturn the ban of issue no. 42, dated Nov. 11, 2024, by prison authorities at the Lower Buckeye Jail in Phoenix. Letters from individuals and organizations calling for the ban to be reversed should be sent to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
A prisoner at the jail who has subscribed for seven years wrote the Militant, “I am a fan of the Militant and love reading its content.”
Prison officials say this issue is censored because “a photo on the cover of the newspaper” violated MCSO policy, which “does not allow photos of weaponry.”
The picture shows armed Hamas thugs in Khan Younis, Gaza, surrounding a woman Hamas had taken hostage in Israel during its murderous Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Jewish pogrom. They seized more than 250 hostages and slaughtered 1,200 people.
The photo — which appeared in newspapers all across the country and worldwide — accompanied a Militant article explaining why the fight against Jew-hatred and the potential for a new Holocaust is crucial to the working class in the Middle East and worldwide.
“I am writing to urge you to reverse the decision by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to impound issue no. 42,” Carl Weinberg wrote to prison authorities. Weinberg is a professor at Indiana University in Bloomington and a member of the executive committee of the American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers there.
“Whatever content bothered your staff, the fact is that Lower Buckeye inmates retain the right under the U.S. Constitution to receive and to express their political views regardless of how ‘inappropriate’ anyone thinks they are,” said Weinberg. This “suggests that you have engaged in viewpoint discrimination, which the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled is a violation of our constitutional rights.”
Goldstein filed an appeal of this impoundment Jan. 13, writing that the “confiscation of an inmate’s political literature violates the First Amendment.”
Letters urging the ban be reversed should be sent to: Ancillary Services Division Commander, MCSO, 3250 W. Lower Buckeye Road, Phoenix, AZ 85009. Email a copy to mcsocentralmailroom@mcso.maricopa.gov and to themilitant@mac.com.