The Militant is stepping up efforts to win support to reverse the impoundment of the paper by prison authorities in Missouri. The ban is a blatant violation of the constitutional rights of prisoners to receive and read a political newspaper of their choice.
The Missouri Department of Corrections impounded issue no. 28, dated Aug. 11, and then issue no. 36, dated Oct. 13, denying the issues to a subscriber at its South Central Correctional Center.
It gave no indication of which articles led to the ban. Instead, a “Censorship Notification” was sent to the inmate saying that the Militant was being withheld because “the security of this institution will be at risk if the material is delivered to you,” claiming the paper “contains information which can be used to instill violence or hatred among the offender population.”
In reference to the Aug. 11 issue, authorities wrote that the paper “presents a risk of lawlessness, violence, anarchy or rebellion.”
Upon inquiry as to what officials were specifically objecting to, Militant attorney David Goldstein received a voicemail response claiming issue no. 28 was banned because it “discusses lynching and encourages strikes.” Goldstein also asked for their reason of banning issue no. 36. As of this writing, he has not received an answer.
On Oct. 17 Goldstein filed an appeal calling for the impoundment of issue no. 28 to be overturned and is preparing to do the same for issue no. 36.
“National and local media routinely report on labor strikes,” wrote Goldstein. “Virtually every issue of the Militant for decades, and which has been distributed to MDOC inmates weekly for almost three years, includes one or more articles on labor strikes” and “MDOC has never censored any of these almost 150 issues of the Militant.”
The only mention of authorities’ other objection, the word “lynch,” is from a short Aug. 8, 1975, excerpt in the weekly “25, 50 and 75 Years Ago” column about a “lynch-mob terror” attack in South Boston by enemies of school desegregation there.
The impoundment of the paper by Missouri prison authorities is “in violation of the Militant’s rights to Due Process and Equal Protection under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment,” Goldstein wrote.
Civil liberties groups like PEN America have sent in letters urging the Missouri prison ban be reversed, and more are on the way.
Join the fight to get the unconstitutional ban overturned. Help get letters from unions, defenders of free speech, publishing organizations, prisoners rights groups and others. They should be sent to: DAI Director, Department of Corrections, 2729 Plaza Drive, PO Box 236, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Please email a copy to the Militant at themilitant@mac.com.