Victory! The Militant was informed March 19 that the ban on its issue no. 2 in Florida prisons has been overturned.
“On March 6, 2025, the Literature Review Committee decided to overturn the impoundment of The Militant, Vol. 89, No. 2,” Saritza Legault, the prison system’s library services administrator, informed Militant attorney David Goldstein. “This issue of The Militant will be approved to be distributed.”
This successful defense of the constitutional right of workers behind bars to get newspapers they choose and of the Militant to reach its subscribers is the fruit of the campaign we waged.
Organizations like the Florida Press Association, which represents all daily newspapers in the state; American Civil Liberties Union of Florida; and Amnesty International USA, as well as unionists and others across the country, joined in urging the prison authorities to reverse the ban.
“The Militant has been successful in a large majority of its fights against prison bans, in Florida and elsewhere,” editor John Studer said. “I’d like to extend a thank-you to all those who joined us in this fight.”
Authorities at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution had impounded the issue, claiming two articles made the issue “inadmissible” — one on the front page, “Israel fights for right to exist as a refuge from Jew-hatred,” and one on page 7, “Jew-hatred, ‘racial purity’ at heart of Hamas program.”
There are over 100 Militant subscribers in Florida prisons.