Juan Carlos Hernandez Shout out to all the incarcerated artists and authors who have contributed their works and made this zine possible! Tt has been a difficult year for those caught up in the system. As the pandemic rages on, conditions in jails and prisons get worse and worse with no regard to health or human rights. Prison administrators across the country are also waging a war on reading materials, attempting to prevent incarcerated people from reading about the outside world while also silencing their voices to prevent the public from hearing the truth about what's happening inside the prison industrial complex. ‘Where they build walls and barbed wire fences, we will build bridges. The relationships we develop with people who have written to us remind us with each heartening soulful letter of the importance and urgency of the moment, inspiring s to keep fighting. We work so the day will come when prisons are no more and all the people are free. Unil then, we will continue to send books and make zines. Solidarity From All Of Us at Midwest Books to Prisoners! Alan Piwowar 1 Table of Contents 4 Tlinois Prison News In Bricf 6 Mailroom Censorship 12 Bookclub, Newslerters, 14 Legal Materials 20 Resource Directory 22,23 Adrian Petdis 25,26 Bob Covelli 27 DrewBeterdy 28,29 William Bouton 30 John Wikson 31 Michael Green 31 Anonymous 32 CTRiley 33 GabbyGilkins 3¢ Andrew Arciniega 35 Steven Daniels-Bey 37 BenitoSalgado 37 Samantha Shader 3 Leon Watson 38 Braydon Trotter 39 AlanPiwowar 39 EricValex Cover: Adrian Pettis Inside Front: Juan Carlos Hernandez Inside Back: Dwight Quigley 40 Contiburor Addresses We mail this out every week! Drawing Cards for Politcal Prsoners lllinois Prison News In Brief Pretrial Farncss Act: Abolition of Moncy Bond GoesInto Efcc n 2023 (Escopt from Caalition o End Moncy Bond) “The aboiton of money bord and s eplaccment with v, ndividulized preceil decison making process will ke effet on Jamuary 1,2023 On January 13,2021, he Hlinos legsacure pased the Preceal Faimess Act as part of the linois Legishive Black Caucuscrminal usticereform bill, HB 3653 SFA2 (bill ext). The Prerial airess Act was writen by advoeates and organizers in the Cosliton to End Money Bond and ch Iinois Network for Preeial Justce and championed in Springfied by Senators Eie Sims and Robere Peters and Representtive Justn Slaughter. The passageofthe bill was only made possble because of the thousands of people and more han 100 organizasions in ur obuse and diverse movement for prerial fresdom, “The Prerial Fairness Ace compleely eliminates therole of maney bond i linois,ensuring acces 0 wealeh il ply o roe in release or decention decisions. The Actalso Limits Eligbily for Preerial Incarceration, Regulates Risk Assessmens Tools. Authorizes Relese by Law Enforcement, Reduces Pensltcs for Violasions of Prcrial Relese Conditons, Reaquires Reconsideraton of Desention and Relesse Conditions, Ensures Credit and Movement for People on Elecronic Monitoring, Reforms the Warrant Process, Ensues Transparency and Oversight through Data Collecton & Publicaion, and more. For more nfo scethe Coaliton to End Money Bond, the Chicago Communicy Bond Fund in Resources lingis Department of Corrections Held in Federal Contempt for Medical Neglect (o from ACLUlino) IDOC il o et requiemencs inthce clas acion et mpacting people with mecical ncds snd diabilcic. A federlcoure e s a orderof contempe gainse th Hlinois Deparemcnt of Corrections (IDOC) seerthe Deparment epesedly gnored court oders and il o take approprisee tcps o mprove et ca i theSetespricon sysen.Specifclly th court et s repesced filurs by IDOC since 2018 o desclop a specifc, et plan e to implenent nd rsnedy probiems in the prson healch care system that courc experss identifed muliple imes. “IDOC’ fulure here i scaggering,” sid Canslle Benners, atorney a¢ ACLU of linois “They were requised by coureorder hree years ago to develop a plan to s the unconsticutonal heakth care deficencies or our clents acrossthe sate, and thy ase yet do . We hope this il wake up their leadership.” Prisonersfirstsued IDOC i 2010, allging ssceic probleans i healch care, probleens tht ead o Sericus disase, harm and even death for pople under th care of DOC. The awsui, brough by named. prionerssepresented by the ACLU of Hlinois Dentons, and Uptawn People’s Law Center seslied n an agrecanent with theStace of linos in 2018, approved by the court in May 2019, The agrcement requised IDOC to develop acomprehensive plan o improve mesdicacar. For morethan threeyears,the Department hs fild o take that seep, leading the coure o enforee the contempt order. 4 Drinking water in prisons is a crapshoot by Ancbomy Eblers (Exeerpt from Chicago Reader) “The water ac Seateille hasalong history of contaminancs. “T've been hearing sbout contaminated. waterforyears from prisoners,” Alan Mils,excutive direceorofthe Uptown People’s Law Cer told “The Appealin March. Mill aso noted that prisoners have complained tht the water is ofeen brown, Somerimes smells ik sevsge,and has black flecks in i, Stateville was bl the 19205, and it infrastracture—including the plumbing—is crumbling, Pisonersaec worried that s pipes contain lead, and he corrosion from these pipes s the resson fo the brown water. The prisoners’complaints of discolored and serange-sasting water e becn o record with the Uptown People’s Law Centersince 203 “This st spring, IDOC and the linois Deparsment of Publi Healch amounced thar Legionell baceria s detcted atSeatevill, I was e revealed that water in fveccher prsons had alo tested postive for the bacteri.Shari Scone- Medistor, managing diccctorof Parole linos,told The Appealin Aprilthat she was “applled that the IDOC seems o be more concerned with covering up the probler than wich protecting the healch of the peopl n thir custody™ Investigations of Rampant Abuse st USP Thomson, linois In July, Senator Dick Dusbin and other lawmakers including Senator Tammy Duckvorch and US. Representtive Cheri Bustos snt a lete o the Inspector General,clling fo an immediat investigation incoareport hat was published by NPR and the MarshallPeojecethat decailed the deachs of sveral inmates 35 wel as allgacions of abuse by prison st ar USP Thormsan. ‘Senator Durbin toured around the prison and gave pres confecence on his indings,as vwell 5 announcing thatthe investigation is currendly ongoing. When TV6 asked Durbin sbous whether he though the safety of inmates a he prison were s risk,”he responded thatallprisons are dangeous, owever USP Thomson has ressonsble ssfeey standard. “| would sy, tesms ofthe standards of chem beingused to protece the inmates nd he scsfF ] chink his s a reasonablesitustion,from wha L today,” Dusbin rplied Dozens of BOP offcal lo vsited USP Thomsson i July In et o the U.S.deputy atorney generl, AFGE Local 4070, the union that epresents gards s USP Thormson, demanded that Warden Thomas Bergami be removed,claiming he has laced inmates,saff nd commnitie e ris. The guard's union also went to the news to complain about handling contraband in the mail, clsiming tha thrce officers have been hospitalized, and asking thatthe prison cutsource mail o the controversial mail digicizacion contractor "MailGuard' by Smare Communications. Previously, Dick Durbin co-authored a leteer with US. Rep. Cheri Buscos (IL-17) o the BOP abowt theirconcerns fo guards who chim to hav ben incoxicated by handling contraband smuggled trough the mail However, experes have thoroughly debunked the "aceidental overdose risk” from accidentally inhaling or touching fentany while handling evidence as isinformation. ‘The Absurdity and Depravity of the Rise in Prison Mail Censorship The pandemic exacerbated the cruel conditions of il and prison withthe closing of ducstonl prograsns and librase, preventing incarceated people from having access to reading materils a a e of increased lockdowns and solcary confinemen. We areoften old by people writng to s hat we ae the oy way chatthey can ever rceive any reading material. s i this conteat tha prison suthoritesbave worked to malke the problem more crucl by implementing various new resritions and regultions to prevent licsatusefrom reaching people. More oftenthan nor thy slectivly enforce overly broad interpresations of new policis o corer for politcal and targesed epression and a eneraldisdin for prisoncr rights and the humanities. This prison mail censorship i aking place whil right-wing reacrionaries are tryng o ban books from public schools and ibrarie, ignifying afascisecscalsion which must be opposed Some prison sstems ae outsourcing il processing to profcering digitiztion contractors sach 3 ‘Smare Communications or TescBehind: chis prevents people from hokding physcalcopies ofchei il fored 10 read poor scans or use expensive tablets. Others are narrowing the definiton of publisher or distributor toonly Amazon or Edward R Hamilcon, preventing ordinary bookstores or publishers of materials otherwise unsvalabe clsewhere from reaching people i prison. Many prisons,such as medium and high security federal insciutions, by policy have previously llowed hardcover books f sent direct from the publiher, buc many are novs implementing their oven inscicutional supplements which violte national plicy. A¢ cher spot,chey are brazeny banning ll ooks, newspapers and maguines enicly Most of these measures, which violae established coue preccent and their own DOC and BOP program staements, are being done under the smokescreen of modified COVID operations or through War on Drugs fear mongering over drugs being smuggle in chrovsgh books or mail sosked in syahesc drugs. Mailroom guards are complaining thatthey are accidentally being intoxicated theough handling contraband, despice the fac hat scieniss have thoroughly debunked the possbilty of accidentl fentanyl overdos isk (especaly considering guards are usually required to use gloves and masks when Handling mal). Many spots where they have liminated physics visits and mal, drugs contnue to be rought in through guards, demonstating the poinles crucly of banning books. While it secms obvious chat you shouldn't depriv people ofther rights o eceive i 0 somchony prevent the allged acivices of a few people, the administrtion's war o resding materils is continuing o afcctimmeasurable harm on the imprisoncd poplacon. I has become incressingly diffict reaching people in surrounding sates like Wisconsin, loe, Missouri, and Michigan. We are determincd to brcak. st dhese misinformed and overzeslousrestrctions o make sure incarcerated people wha have contacted s ge the good books they'relooking for. [ you ar an ncarcersted person who experienced these mailroom reecions, o haveidess honw e can beter brdge these wlls,plese writ us. Midwest Books has had s sgnificant s i rejections for al kinds of ridiculous and tivial rssons (e, yellowed pages, ighlighting, etc). Here's a smal handflof parciculaly absurd rfecions: RN O SR D717 e o7 CoNTRAAND & AP E— S o— ey — Misiouri DOC say tha donated books” s onsiersd “contrabands despieofiil plicy slowiog lcoming publctions from “bon e publihers” FCIHasehon, WV: o incoming publications” sfscion ‘which oxinaelyrquirs 3 dgnature by The Warden and llows possbilcy of ppeals by both prksanerand pulblher. Juse wrot i sharpie,“KTS nom profc nauchoized”.Same fox FC1 Beskley, o in WY, going ke vebod o the eecton stamps ‘Cook County Jail banog Nukonl Geographic ‘Magain or“nudiy” becase f sclnific and e depition ofbuman evluton FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS “This i ot thtthe ollowing poblcation Tl Black Liberuan nd te Aboltion of the Priso Industisl Complx Which wa recsived o th flowing date From: Mt kst Pisoners 1121 1. Meettes Ave. PIE 460 Chicage, I G022 IS IMPOUNDED peimg v by e Depamens L R G e b W G e A T o an ¥ i i ot that the fllowin publcain: ke Prosram of he iack Amtonery Prison Pedersion Florida banning Black Liberation literature CENSORSHIP NOTIFICATION Northeast Correctional Center [ e 1 provides information on how t obtan prohibited publications o provides information on how o Order unauthorized tems or comeaband Missour censoring the PARC National Resource Diecory, Paicy Proase rter i Dlsrbuion: publc oo Conespondance Lsem kot Dapariment of Caracions Ascmart 7 Wakoam Catesoondn Rl Noks Sarr CORRESPONDENCE REJECTION NOTICE-SENDER To._Midwest books to prisoners Sander Descrption ofrjeced lamicorrespondence: 1 book creator: owned heroes comic book Issue § ‘depicting iolance with Deogie being shot in the fead T e corospondones o conab o S s a5 e o e ey 0 T coespondanc it it At ay e e, g, ey, cprsioalmerorands South Dakota State Penitentiary hating on graphic novels 8 paut Dsle D DOC b B a2 50 o0 oAICCI O, DOCDLOW I T « Sremvianes 0 S O i ok o e sy et Clamotscociont st Socury Diector {soap 10 oifce {con 1195 ol A Boorswconsn g From:foster,bian)-00C Sentridy, A 23,2021 1237 0 o0 D DA Secrty e