Censorship in Texas

To:  TEXAS LEGISLATURE

WHEREAS, the First Amendment gives to all Americans the guarantee of free speech and to all publishers the guarantee of a free press, and,

WHEREAS, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has decided to implement new prisoner mail censorship rules, under Board Policy (BP) 03.91; and,

WHEREAS, the new rules violate the Supreme Court’s four-prong test for prison censorship as set forth in TURNER v. SAFLEY, and,

WHEREAS, new rules include opening and reading prisoner mail to media and government officials; and,

WHEREAS, this mail has been protected from government oversight in this manner for 25 years; and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ is virtually unregulated and has been the subject of constant federal litigation, corruption, abuse and exists as a political spoils system for Texas politicians and bureaucrats; and,

WHEREAS, prisoner correspondence to media and government officials is often the only way the public becomes aware of corruption and abuse, and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ has already limited prisoner stamp purchase and possession, has ended Saturday mail service including mail to and from attorneys, courts, media and government, has banned prisoner-to-prisoner mail, has punished prisoner-writer William Bryan Sorens by effectually sentencing him to another year in prison for the stated offense of “writing articles for publication,” and has outlawed prisoner art or messages drawn on outgoing envelopes; and,

WHEREAS, the new mail rules ban publications containing nudity; and,

WHEREAS, the Texas media and most mass media refuse to cover such subjects as corruption and abuses inside Texas prisons; and,

WHEREAS, only such “edgy” publications as PLAYBOY and PENTHOUSE
have dared publish investigative reports about Texas prisons; and,

WHEREAS, publications containing nudity have been permitted in Texas prisons for a quarter-century, with no security-related problems; and,

WHEREAS, sufficient rules already exist in TDCJ for punishing sex offenders who harass staff and which protect staff from coming into unwanted contact with “offensive” material; and,

WHEREAS, it appears TDCJ’s ban on nudity is a moral ruse and pretense for egregious censorship; and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ’S censorship of both outgoing and incoming media mail appears to be retaliatory and punitive in nature and design, aimed at silencing voices from inside and harming the subscriber bases of media most critical of TDCJ; and,

WHEREAS, the only deterrent to government censorship is a free press, including publications we may not like nor agree with, and including prisoner writers we may not like nor agree with; and,

WHEREAS, conservatives and liberals and everyone-in-between should agree that under the Constitution criminals are sent to prison AS punishment and not FOR punishment; and,

WHEREAS, government censorship begins in obscure public institutions, as a matter of public policy, and tends to grow to include other disfavored persons or publishers; and,

WHEREAS, this wave of public censorship is already evident in current affairs, including U.S. marshal confiscation of reporters’ tapes after a public speech by Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, and including theft and destruction of campus newspapers, and including a “decency war” on popular radio personalities, and so much more;

THEREFORE, WE THE PEOPLE insist that the Texas Legislature compel the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and TDCJ to reinstitute TDCJ Correspondence Rules 3.0 as they existed in policy and practice for 25 years, and to rescind Board Policy (BP) 03.91 establishing the above censorship of prisoner mail.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Censorship in Texas Petition to TEXAS LEGISLATURE was created by Lovers of Free Speech and written by William Bryan Sorens (wbsorens@yahoo.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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