Fight to overturn Florida prison ban on coverage of rights of immigrants

The Militant is winning support for its fight to reverse the impoundment of three issues of the paper by prison authorities at the Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, Florida. They impounded issues nos. 4, 5, and 6, objecting in each case to front-page articles from Minneapolis reporting on disciplined demonstrations defending immigrants and the need for a labor-led fight for amnesty for workers without papers in the U.S.

“This ban is an attack on both the freedom of the press of the Militant, and that of the workers behind bars reading it, as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. constitution,” Félix Vincent Ardea, president of division 89 of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, wrote to the Florida state prison Literature Review Committee Feb. 26. “As workers, we have a fundamental right to our own press organ.”

Prison officials claim this coverage is “dangerously inflammatory in that it advocates or encourages riot, insurrection, rebellion, organized prison protest, disruption of the institution, or the violation of the federal law, state law, or Department rules.”

And that they present “a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.”

“Nothing in the cited articles is ‘inflammatory’ or advocates for any kind of violence,” wrote Vincent Ardea. “On the opposite, the Militant champions a course of peaceful, lawful protesting led by the unions in order to fight for immigrant rights.”

Each of the articles objected to includes photos of broad, union-supported demonstrations.

“Peacefully protesting for your rights is at the core of the liberties protected by the United States’ constitution, and reporting on such protests is not cause for accusations of violence,” Vincent Ardea added.

The Militant was informed March 3 that the Literature Review Committee has upheld the ban of issues no. 5 and 6, and it did the same for no. 4 a couple of weeks earlier. The committee has not said what it found objectionable in these articles. Militant attorney David Goldstein is preparing an appeal of all three of these bans to be filed by mid-March.

“Please immediately reverse the bans,” wrote Timothy Frankland, a member of the American Postal Workers Union in Eagan, Minnesota, in a March 1 letter to the Literature Review Committee. “The justifications offered for the ban are unsupported by the articles’ actual content. The articles strongly condemn ‘ultraleft actions aimed at disrupting ICE’ as well as any ‘provocations leading to violent clashes.’”

‘Uphold the rights of prisoners’

“I call for you and your institution to uphold and maintain the right of prisoners to read what they wish and to form their own opinions about political developments in the world,” he added.

Among the groups that have submitted letters demanding the ban be overturned are the Florida Press Association, which represents all the daily and most of the weekly newspapers in that state, and PEN America, the 103-year-old branch of the world’s leading international literary and human rights organization.

“I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the Committee’s recent decision to uphold the impoundment of three issues of the Militant,” said a Feb. 28 letter sent by David Lefrancois, a professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais. The claim that the issues are inflammatory, “profoundly misrepresents the content and intention of the articles.”

“Upholding the rights to read, to think critically, and to engage with divergent perspectives remains essential to both democratic life and rehabilitation efforts within the correctional system.”

Keep the letters coming! Urge the Literature Review Committee to reverse the bans.

They should be sent to: Literature Review Committee, c/o Saritza Legault/Melvin Herring, Library Services Administrator Florida Department of Corrections, 501 S. Calhoun St., Tallahassee, Florida, 32399-2500. Or emailed to Melvin.Herring@fdc.myflorida.com and Saritza.Legault@fdc.myflorida.com, with a copy to the Militant.

To view or download a copy of  any or all of the support letters click on one of the buttons below.