And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
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Date: Fri, 14 May 1999 22:44:00
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Subject: "Outlawing Prison Legal Books" - Mumia Abu-Jamal
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#412 - Written 6 April 1999
Outlawing Prison Legal Books
copyright 1999 Mumia Abu-Jamal
There is a mystery in the shadowy world of the censorship
boards of prisons across the U.S. No matter what various courts
have decided, these state agencies, usually staffed by people who
haven't the faintest idea of what constitutes a Constitution,
routinely censor books, articles and reading material for the
imprisoned on the slightest pretext.
Recently, the well-respected _Prison Legal News_ published a
compilation of their columns, articles and writings from
jailhouse lawyers, columnists, and judges in the book _The
Celling of America: An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry_,
by PLN contributor Daniel Burton-Rose, and editors Dan Pens and
Paul Wright (Common Courage Press, 1998). By their very nature,
many of the contributions are admittedly critical of the prison
industrial complex, as they should be.
In Michigan's Huron Valley Men's Facility, the prison
censors withheld the book (TCOA), calling it a publication that
"advocates violence, riots." PLN subscriber Larry Lynch's order
of the book was therefore denied. Lynch appealed the censorship
throughout all levels of the Michigan DOC, but administrators
upheld the censorship.
PLN and Common Courage Press have filed a class action
lawsuit against the censorship, saying the First Amendment right
to free speech was violated by the ban.
I invite any of our readers to read for themselves the book
that Michigan banned. It will be utterly impossible for any
readers to find, in the text of the book, anything that actually
"advocates violence, riots." Most writers are knowledgeable of
the plain political fact that riots are counterproductive, and
serve the long-term interests of the prison administrators,
rarely the prisoners. (Here the writer must offer an admission;
he is a contributor to the TCOA compilation). Some of the
contributors are judges and other professionals; are they
advocating 'riots?'
One entry (the one by the judge) details the lies utilized
by the media and attorneys-general to portray the vast majority
of prisoner civil suits as frivolous. This judge, from the 2nd
U.S. Court of Appeals, demonstrates by citing specific cases,
that the cases were misrepresented , and were in fact, based on
solid claims for relief. Would this kind of article 'advocate
riots?'
Some of the writers write about bogus, fraudulent usages of
the misconduct system, where they are punished for daring to
exercise their alleged "right" of free expression, supposedly
protected by the first amendment. Is such an article 'advocating
violence?' Lets let you decide, the reader. Any reading of TCOA
will prove how ludicrous such a claim can be. Write to the:
Prison Legal News, Book Dept. H., 2400 NW 80th St.,
#148 Seattle, WA 98117; $19.95 per copy ($3.20 shipping).
One may learn that it is prisons that advocates violence,
for it is an institution that inculcates and teaches violence.
It separates, it splits, it enrages and it embitters. It
engenders violence of the psyche, which is ignorance. And that is
the real objective of any state censorship: ignorance. To keep
people in prison deaf, dumb, and blind to the forces that shape
and create prisons.
-30-
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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