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Reviews

By Paul Wright

North Coast XPress is a magazine for people who care about Constitutional issues, U.S. foreign policy, the criminal "justice" system, labor news, animal rights, global and domestic economics, the environment and other topics that the mainstream media won't touch. Each issue has prisoner art, poetry, and articles in the "Voices from prison" section. Recent issues have contained articles on AIDS, Hemp legalization and products, rethinking the war on drugs, the Pelican Bay trial, class justice and more. Subscriptions are $10 a year for prisoners (stamps accepted), $12 for others. Free to prisoners on death row or control units. Write: North Coast XPress, P.O. Box 1226, Occidental, CA. 95465.

Shut Them Down is the bi-monthly newsletter of the Colorado Coalition to Shut Down Isolation Prisons. Their primary campaign has been against the federal government's plans to open a new control unit prison, to replace Marion, in Florence, CO. Each issue contains information concerning prison activism, control units and more. Subscriptions are $10.00 a year from: Rocky Mountain Peace Center, P.O. Box 1156, Boulder, CO. 80306-1156.

Pelican Bay Prison Express is the bi-monthly magazine of the Pelican Bay Information Project, an independent citizens group formed to monitor conditions and abuses at the Pelican Bay prison in California. This is an excellent publication filled with information of interest to prisoners and activists across the country. The latest issue had extensive coverage of the federal trial in Madrid v. Gomez, the class action suit challenging conditions at the control unit at Pelican Bay. This suit is the first to come to trial challenging the conditions and philosophy of control units. PBPE provides far more extensive coverage on this and similar issues than PLN can. Highly recommended. Subscriptions cost $10.00 per year. Write: PBIP, 2489 Mission St. # 28, San Francisco, CA. 94110. (415) 821-6545.

National Liberator is a bi-monthly newsletter published by the Aleph Institute and bills itself as the "Newsletter of life for America's imprisoned Jews." The most recent issue has articles on Judaism, prison reform, sentencing reform, religious freedom in prison, political developments in the BOP and more. NL contains information of interest to non-Jewish prisoners as well as Jews. Subscriptions are free to prisoners and their families, $18.00 a year for others. Write: The Aleph Institute, P.O. Box 546564, Surfside, FL, 33154-0564.

Lifelines is the bi-monthly newsletter of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Each issue contains up to date information on abolitionist activities around the country, resources available, book reviews, and plenty of other information. Subscriptions are free to prisoners, $25.00 a year for others. Write: NCADP, 1325 G. St. NW, LL-B, Washington D.C. 20005.

Action Update is a bi-monthly newsletter published by the Quixote Center. Their main focus is on anti-death penalty activities, especially the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Black Panther now on death row in Pennsylvania. Each issue contains updates on Mumia's situation, abolitionist activities around the country and prison developments in Pennsylvania. Subscriptions available for a donation. Write: Equal Justice, P.O. Box 5206, Hyattsville, MD. 20782.

Walkin' Steel is the tabloid newspaper of the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown. Each issue is filled with information about control units and efforts to shut them down across the country. The latest issue has an article on the "crime of black imprisonment" comparing the incarceration rate of blacks and whites [personally I believe this is a flawed analysis. Prisoners as a rule are poor, regardless of race, there are few if any rich blacks or whites in prison. That more blacks and Hispanics tend to be poor does lead to more of them being in prison but I think it is simplistic to say it is a racial problem, I believe it to be a class problem.]; the new federal control unit prison at Florence, CO; why control units exist; efforts to stop the building of one in IL; and struggle in IN control units. Each issue is highly informative and an excellent resource. They always need money to carry out the many prison projects they are involved in. They also sell T-Shirts. For information send a donation to: CEML, P.O. Box 578172, Chicago, IL. 60657-8172. (312) 235-0070.

FAMM Gram is the bi-monthly magazine of Families Against mandatory Minimums (FAMM). Each issue reports on efforts to change legislation concerning mandatory minimum sentences. While this is FAMM's primary concern, each issue regularly covers a variety of other topics of interest to federal prisoners, especially federal sentencing guidelines, FAMM activities, media outreach, BOP news, and more. This is an excellent publication for a cause well worth supporting. Most states have FAMM chapters as well. Subscriptions are available for a donation. Write: FAMM, 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Suite 200, South. Washington D.C. 20004.

NPP Journal is the quarterly magazine of the ACLU's National Prison Project. Each issue contains information on legal and political developments affecting prisoners in the US. The latest issue, October, 1993, contains articles on reform litigation in Tennessee, that the US fails to conform to international human rights tenets, an analysis of eighth amendment litigation, AIDS education and a case law update. This is an invaluable publication to anyone interested in prison litigation and reform. The NPP also has other resources and information available. An excellent complement to PLN. Subscriptions are $2.00 a year to prisoners, $30.00 for others. Write: NPP, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW # 410, Washington D.C. 20009.

Freedom Press is a prison ministry project paralegal service. They offer paralegal services for prisoners, i.e. legal research and case development, help in preparing documents, etc. They also assist in civil litigation, bankruptcies, debt consolidation, divorce, wills and probate. They also irregularly publish a small newsletter with items of information such as fake information on release benefits, protecting your credit, etc. For information contact: Freedom Press, 525 K.E. Market, Ste. 171, Leesburg, VA. 22075.

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