“To Cause A
Disruption”
By: Spencer Butler
During the month of September after
waiting for a copy of the September 2016 Issue of Prison Legal News, I finally
decided to write the mailroom here at the French Robertson Unit and inquire if
the publication was being held and if so for what reason(s).
Within
a few days I received a response stating it was on hold with no other reason,
so I then wrote the mailroom back asking wy it was on hold and the response was
“due to questionable content” and would be held until the review is completed
by the MSCP. (mail system coordinators panel)
Then on
10-11-16 I received a correspondence denial form for the Summer 2016 Issue of
the Inside Books Project Newsletter stating it was being denied because it “would
advocate prison disruption”. On 10-25-16
I received a publication denial notification concerning the Inside Books
Project Newsletter being denied specifically because “page 10 contains
information on a work stoppage which could cause prison disruption.”
The
rule that is being used to deny these publications is on page 120 of the
Offender Orientation Handbook which states © “It contains material that a reasonable
person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating
information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender
disruption such as strikes, riots, or security threat group activity.”
The
Prison Legal News has been in circulation within the Prison System for many
years and the editor, columnists and many of the contributing writers are
currently or have been incarcerated, so I’m sure they know what is and is not
allowed, (correspondence related) in the
prison system. Prison Legal News as you
can tell is a LEGAL publication, so once again I’m sure they know what we as
prisoners can legally receive in the mail.
In
regards to the rule I previously mentioned I would like to concentrate on a
word and that word is solely. According
the Merriam- Websters Collegiate Dictionary 11th ed the word solely
is defined as 1. Without another 2. To
the exclusion of all else.
The
denial form for the Summer 2016 Inside Books Project states the denied issue is
on page 10 therefor showing it is NOT written for the sole purpose of anything
because with there being 10+ pages the word solely does NOT apply.
The
Prison Legal News publication usually has around 70+ pages and the articles are
on several different issues therefor showing once again the word solely does
not apply.
When it
states it could cause disruption what could cause a disruption is frivolous rules
that are made up, don’t apply and are not used to restrict what little freedom
we have as prisoners.
The
issue the denials were based on is a September 9, 2016 peaceful workstoppage
that was nationally planned throughout the prison system and the reason this,
amongst several other work stoppages have been done in the past and will
continue to be done in the future is because of the slavery we as prisoners are
forced to do or we are punished. We
receive no pay or good time for our work or any type of earnings, therefor the
peaceful work stoppages are done for the purpose of obtaining better treatment,
medical, good time, etc.
If we
were treated better and shown some form of appreciation maybe the workstoppages
would not happen, so to get to the root of the problem what “could cause prison
disruption”; it’s the treatment that inspires us as prisoners to commit to
executing and planning the work stoppages that “could cause prison disruption”.
But
plain and simple: the capitalist, imperialist, slave masters that call theirselves
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice are where the possibilities of prison
disruption originated from. Not inmates
peacefully protesting this by refusing to be slaves.
