Join ‘Militant’ fight to overturn ban by prison officials in Florida

The Militant is winning growing support in its fight to overturn the ban of three consecutive issues by prison authorities at the Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, Florida. The state-run prison impounded issues nos. 4, 5, and 6, objecting to front-page articles from Minneapolis reporting on demonstrations to defend immigrant rights and the need for a disciplined, labor-led fight for amnesty for workers in the U.S. without government-approved papers.

The ban is a violation of the constitutional rights of workers behind bars to receive and read a newspaper of their choice, to form their own political opinions, as well as the right of the Militant to reach its subscribers.

One subscriber at Taylor wrote the Militant to urge the paper to fight to overturn the ban so he and others can read it.

Prison officials make the claim the Militant’s 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.”

The Florida Department of Corrections Literature Review Committee has tentatively upheld the ban on all three issues, without specifying what it found objectionable in any of the articles. Militant attorney David Goldstein has informed the committee he is preparing an appeal requesting reversal of the impoundments.

“Amnesty International USA is calling on the Literature Review Committee to overturn the impoundment decision,” wrote Justin Mazzola, the group’s deputy director of research, in a letter to prison officials March 4.

“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,” Mazzola wrote.

The articles “document current national events of the heavy-handed immigration enforcement taking place in cities such as Minneapolis and the protests that erupted there and across the country in response. The articles further detail the role of unions in the fight against these tactics, the need for solidarity across groups and classes and calls for the government to provide amnesty to those undocumented immigrants in the USA.

“However, reading the plain language of the articles,” Mazzola points out, “they do not contain language or descriptions of current events that would present a call for ‘rebellion’ or ‘riot.’ In fact, the articles merely provide updates related to ongoing protests against government action — information that squarely relates to individuals’ rights to freedom of expression.”

Ban ‘arbitrary and capricious’

“I am writing to request that you reverse your recent decision to ban several issues of the Militant newspaper,” Chris Pennock, vice president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 9 in Minneapolis, wrote in a March 3 letter to the Literature Review Committee. “These issues covered protest actions against ICE in Minneapolis, which is the city that I live in. These actions were peaceful union-led protests which is the example that the Militant puts forward as the path toward change. The articles in the Militant condemn violence against ICE agents. This ban is arbitrary and capricious and must be overturned.”

Among the growing numbers of organizations and individuals who have sent letters calling for the lifting of the bans are PEN America; the Florida Press Association; David Lefrancois, a professor at the University of Quebec in Outaouais; rail worker Félix Vincent Ardea, president of division 89 of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference; postal worker Timothy Frankland in Minnesota; and many more.

These letters make a difference! Help get groups, unions and others to write and urge the Literature Review Committee to reverse the bans (see box above).

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