Prison bans on ‘Militant’ escalate in Florida, help fight to overturn them!

Prison authorities at Lancaster Correctional Institution in Trenton, Florida, have denied an inmate there Militant issue no. 7. The paper received the impoundment notice March 12, which cited the front-page article “SWP call to action: US hands off Cuba! End Washington’s economic blockade!” as the cause of the ban.

This article prints in full a statement by Jack Barnes, national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, on behalf of the party’s National Committee. “There’s a pressing need today for a call to action by working people to oppose the US rulers’ tightening economic squeeze of the Cuban people and escalating military threats against Cuba,” it says.

“In face of Washington’s brazen lies to rationalize its assaults on Cuban sovereignty, working people in the United States have both an obligation and an opportunity right now to get out the truth about Cuba’s socialist revolution.”

The article includes photos of recent demonstrations by working people in Miami, Minneapolis and Havana opposing Washington’s punishing oil blockade and economic sanctions against Cuba.

Prison authorities 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 it “presents a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.”

The ban is a blatant violation of the constitutional rights of prisoners to read a newspaper of their choice and form their own political opinions, and the right of the Militant to reach its subscribers.

The impoundment is pending review by the Florida Department of Corrections Literature Review Committee. The Militant is preparing to appeal.

Escalation of attack on rights

This fight is part of a recent escalation of unconstitutional bans on the Militant in Florida prisons.

The Militant is winning wide support for its fight to overturn bans of issues nos. 4, 5 and 6, dated Feb. 2, 9 and 16, at the state-run Taylor Correctional Institution in Perry, Florida. Authorities there targeted front-page articles in each issue that reported on labor-backed, disciplined protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement attacks on immigrant workers in Minneapolis and the paper’s call for supporting amnesty for immigrant workers in the U.S. Militant attorney David Goldstein has filed an appeal for all three issues.

Now prison authorities at Taylor have banned two more issues, nos. 8 and 9, citing front-page articles reporting on the Militant’s fight to overturn the earlier impoundments. The articles report on support for the Militant’s fight from the Florida Press Association, PEN America, Amnesty International USA and more.

Officials at Taylor base their first three impoundments on the same claim that these Militant articles are “dangerously inflammatory.”

Prison authorities have so far not specified what it found objectionable in any of the material.

Dustin Saunders, a rail worker in Vancouver, British Columbia, sent the Militant a copy of a letter he wrote to the Literature Review Committee challenging this censorship. “The Militant is one of the oldest and most widely respected periodicals dedicated to providing readers with a worker class perspective on worldwide labour news,” he said.

“The issues under scrutiny in fact implore workers to organize into a unified movement of Union-led fight for amnesty for all undocumented workers. Seeking to change the law rather than violating it.

“This overreaching censorship of the Militant deprives inmates of an uplifting, healthy and hopeful perspective on a concern that many likely consider to be frightening,” Saunders said. “Knowing that the labour movement has the power to provide hope for undocumented workers will only serve to pacify inmates and will also help serve to educate them on lawful ways to engage with other workers to struggle against government policy.

“Please reconsider your decision to restrict access to the Militant.”

To support this increasingly important fight for the constitutional right of the Militant to be read by prisoners at the Correctional Institutions in Perry and Trenton, help get letters from unions, churches, organizations and prominent individuals defending workers’ rights and free speech.

Please send them to the Literature Review Committee, Florida Department of Corrections, 501 South Calhoun St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500, or email to Melvin.Herring@fdc.myflorida.com and Saritza.Legault@fdc.myflorida.com, with a copy to themilitant@mac.com.

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