Following a monthslong fight by defenders of free speech and the rights of workers behind bars, the Florida Department of Corrections Literature Review Committee has reversed prison bans on seven of the 10 Militants denied to inmates there this year. But the Militant is still fighting to overturn the unconstitutional ban of issues nos. 4, 5 and 6.
And there is now another ban to take on, at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, Tennessee.
Prison officials at the Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, Florida, had banned issues nos. 4-6 for reporting on labor-backed protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement attacks on immigrants in Minneapolis earlier this year and the Militant’s call for amnesty for workers in the U.S. without papers.
The Literature Review Committee has upheld that prison’s claim that the articles in these three issues are “dangerously inflammatory” and encourage “riot, insurrection, rebellion, organized prison protest,” without any explanation. They also maintained the accusation that nos. 4 and 5 are “a threat to the security, order or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system.” Officials there never identified a single sentence they claimed justified their action.
On April 28 the Militant requested the Florida Department of Corrections convene a special meeting of the Literature Review Committee to review and overturn their decision to uphold the Taylor bans.
The Militant “believes that a full and fair review by the LRC will result in the approval of the three issues as they present no legitimate security concerns,” wrote Militant attorney David Goldstein, “and because the Militant strongly believes that inmates should have access to political reporting on one of the most important current domestic issues in the U.S.”
The Militant has yet to receive a reply about the hearing. This is the first time the Militant has requested a special meeting since it became an option in 2022. The hearing must be convened with the three ranking Florida Department of Corrections Literature Review Committee members participating.
Civil liberties groups, trade unionists and others have written letters requesting authorities reverse these bans. More letters are needed.
‘Militant’ banned in Tennessee
It recently came to the attention of the Militant that 10 issues of the Militant have been banned at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Tennessee. Trousdale is managed by CoreCivic, a private for-profit prison management company.
Issues nos. 7, 10, 11 and 12 sent to a prisoner subscriber there were returned to the Militant in March and April. Prison stampings on their envelopes, which hadn’t been opened, read, “Return to Sender, Unapproved Vendor” or “Not Allowed Due to Content.”
Also, on April 10, the Militant received difficult-to-read photocopies that showed only parts of envelopes of another six impounded issues, making it impossible to know which papers had been banned.
After Militant attorney David Goldstein wrote to the Tennessee Department of Correction requesting the reason for the impoundments, he received a letter from Trousdale Warden Stanley Lovett.
“Please be advised that these materials were rejected because the contents were determined to reasonably present a threat to the security and good order of the institution,” Lovett wrote. “While you may have received envelopes with varying notations, such as ‘unapproved vendor’ or ‘RTS,’ please accept this correspondence as the formal written notification required by our guidelines.”
But the prison’s impoundments do not follow their “guidelines.” In fact, they violate the State of Tennessee Department of Correction’s own policies. Its Administrative Policies and Procedures states, “Rejection notices regarding magazines or similar publications must contain information to identify the specific issues or items being rejected.”
And if the prison warden “determines that mail sent to an inmate could reasonably present a threat to the security, order, or programs of the institution” the warden must notify both the prisoner and the publisher in writing, including the reason that the mail was rejected, and allow an appeal to be made within 14 days to the assistant commissioner of prison operations.
When the Militant was impounded in Tennessee prisons in 2022, a prison official wrote to the paper saying the ban had been reversed precisely because the Militant is, in fact, “an approved publication.”
“Because Trousdale’s censorship of the Militant violates TDOC regulations and is unconstitutional, the rejections and returns must be reversed,” Goldstein wrote to L.R. Thomas, assistant commissioner of prison operations, May 18, “and all rejected issues must be delivered to the inmate subscribers forthwith.”
Letters urging authorities to reverse the bans should be emailed to: Saritza.Legault@fdc.myflorida.com and Melvin.Herring@fdc.myflorida.com, with a copy to themilitant@mac.com.