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Misadventures in Mail Censorship

Loaded on Jan. 1, 2024 by Robert Schaeffer published in Prison Legal News January, 2024, page 14
Filed under: Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Grievances, Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Due Process, Censorship, Prison Regulations. Location: Pennsylvania.

by K. Robert Schaeffer

How an incarcerated writer is fighting a sad new normal of censorship and mail obstruction in Pennsylvania prisons

This essay originally appeared in Inquest on October 19, 2023. The original can be found at https://inquest.org/misadventures-in-mail-censorship/

From August into September 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PADOC) ...

 

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  1. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Treat No Evil: Centurion and the Curse of For-Profit Prison Healthcare, by J.D. Schmidt
  2. From the Editor, by Paul Wright
  3. $7.75 Million Paid by San Diego County After Jail Detainee Severely Injured in Fall from Top Bunk
  4. Alabama DOC Proves Truly “Heartless”
  5. Misadventures in Mail Censorship, by Robert Schaeffer
  6. Private Prisons Hold Almost 100,000 Prisoners, 8% of Total U.S. Prison Population
  7. Hear Us Now? Hearing Impaired Tennessee Prisoners Secure Injunction
  8. Fifth BOP Employee Sentenced in California “Rape Club,” Another Lawsuit Filed
  9. Another Report Verifies That Prison Deaths Soared During COVID-19 Pandemic
  10. Record-Setting $7 Million Settlement Caps LaSalle’s Legacy at Texarkana Jail, by Matthew Clarke
  11. 153 Killed in Custody in Salvadorian Gang Crackdown
  12. Former L.A. County Jail Detainees Denied Promised Sentence Credits
  13. Washington Agencies Sanctioned for Discovery Violations Reach $3.1 Million Settlement with Disabled Woman Allegedly Abused at State Sanctioned Home
  14. Former Florida Guard Gets Five Years for Fatal Assault on Mentally Ill Prisoner
  15. N.H.’s First Black Sheriff Charged With Embezzling $19,000
  16. Hurdles to Voting for Ex-Felons Rise in Tennessee and Virginia, Fall in Mississippi
  17. “Brushed It Under the Rug”: Investigation Refutes Florida Sheriff’s Story About Jail Detainee’s Death
  18. Corizon Health Bankruptcy Delayed by Revelation of Attorney’s Affair With Mediator
  19. Virginia Leads the Nation in K-9 Attacks on Prisoners
  20. Nearly $75 Million Class-Action Settlement Reached For Delayed Releases from N.Y.C. Jails
  21. Officials of Pennsylvania Guards Union Charged with Theft
  22. $10,000 Verdict for Fired Guard’s Failure to Protect Louisiana Prisoner From Stabbing, by David Reutter
  23. $9,000 Settlement for Florida Prisoner’s Retaliation and Excessive Force Claims Against Guards, by David Reutter
  24. Wisconsin Supreme Court: Jail Time Must Be Credited When Charge Causing Jailing Read in At Sentencing, by Matthew Clarke
  25. Oklahoma Prisoner Uses COVID-19 Stimulus Check to Overturn Conviction
  26. The Good That Prisoner Rights Lawyers Do
  27. New Head of “Constitutional Sheriffs” Calls MLK a “Thug”
  28. Eleventh Circuit Addresses First Amendment, Due Process Interests in Georgia Prisoner Emails
  29. Second Circuit Strips Qualified Immunity from Connecticut Officials Who Ignored Prisoner’s Scalp Lesions, by David Reutter
  30. Long Waits for Montana Jail Detainees Needing Competency Restoration Services
  31. West Virginia Pretrial Detainee’s Lawsuit for Sexual Abuse Survives Dismissal Stage, by David Reutter
  32. Eighth Circuit Says Arkansas Prisoner’s Medical Incapacity May Excuse PLRA Exhaustion Failure
  33. Deaths While Incarcerated Up 18% in Louisiana
  34. Despite “Ban the Box” Laws, Most Prisoners Still Unemployed a Year After Release
  35. Seventh Circuit Reinstates Illinois Prisoner’s Claim Against Kitchen Supervisor for Scalding From Spilled Hot Water
  36. George Floyd’s Killer Stabbed 22 Times in Federal Prison in Arizona
  37. Former New Mexico Guard Convicted of Sexually Assaulting Prisoner, Suit Filed
  38. Ed Mead: Rest in Power, by Paul Wright
  39. Multiple Staffers Arrested at Georgia’s Clayton County Jail
  40. The “Lunacy Zone:” How Mississippi Jails 700 Mentally Ill People a Year Without Charges
  41. Second Circuit Revives N.Y. Prisoner’s Suit Over Sing Sing Fire, 11 Other Prisoners Split $220,000 Settlement
  42. Maine Ends Prison Gerrymandering
  43. Fifth Circuit Revives Suit Against Texas Jailers Who Tasered Detainee Suffering Epileptic Seizure, by Douglas Ankney
  44. West Virginia High Court Decides Medical Practice Liability Act Not Applicable to Prison System, by David Reutter
  45. Nevada Prisoner Wins Injunction Requiring DOC to Provide Exercise Despite Guard Shortage
  46. Seventh Circuit Slams Illinois Civil Commitment Program but Reverses Injunction
  47. Florida Prisoners Not Required to File Rulemaking Petition to Satisfy PLRA Exhaustion Requirement, by David Reutter
  48. News in Brief

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