Censorship Survey Results

2025 Censorship Update - Survey Results

Have you ever filed a grievance against your materials being blocked by the mailroom or getting confiscated? Were you successful? What was the explanation for blocking the material?

Yes: 59%     No: 41%
"Yes. No i was not, they pretended to not know what I was talking about."
IL/Wicc
". N/A"
NBCI
"Yes. Ive filed and always been denied the material. Sometimes the material simply vanished or got destriyed."
Indiana/ IYC
"Yes. No i was not. The explanation was it violated policy & policy was applied correctly."
IN 46168
"Yes. Im still waiting on response on books but I got religious tracts sent in 200 to be exact, they said 200 pictures which was a fallacy."
Cook County Jail
"Yes. I still have that problem."
Cook County Jail
"No. "
CCDOC/IL
"Yes. No, not successful. Prison/Jail staff heads, in administration claim it's their choice to decide whats allowed and not allowed."
llinois, USP-Marion
"No. I never filed a grievance in regards to that. I actually think the grievance process is a joke. when soemthing of mines is blocked, I usually just have them remove the page or pages they complaint about."
Westville Correctional Facility
"Yes. Not successful, not allowed"
IL, Hill corrctr
"Yes. No. BS "rubber stamp" answer"
Pinckneyuine
". I will include grievance response."
USP Marion
"Yes. A grievance was submitted and sent to Human Rights Watch Organization that filed a lawsuit and received a court order and injunction on Indian Dept. of Corr. that is now being violated. Another grievance is being submitted March 3, 2023."
Westville Correctional Facility
"Yes. Yes, I've won. See question 5"
USP-Beaumont
"Yes. No, I was in stateville CC then, and as is well-known, grievances get "lost" or they take months to a year to respond, yet kept the 30-day process of disposing the book running. So the book was sent home a year before the grievance rubber-stamped the same standard excuse: safety & security."
IL Menard Doc
"Yes. I have not recieved back word yet."
Dixon. C.C
"Yes. No. I've filled & generally the complaint at one stage or another gets trashed or impeded. The FBOP administrative remedy process is a joke, a waste of time & postage."
USP-Coleman I
"No. This facility targets complainants so its prudent to "pick ones battles". My singular complaint involved stapling of photos was met with denial, then a policy change, then photos that were "lost" & never found."
Elkton FCI
"Yes. No, it's prohibited to the facility."
Westville Correctional Facility
"Yes. The greivance was unsuccessful, the #1 reason, which we cannot get around is they say "for the safety and securty of the institution" they will not allow it in."
Pinckneyville Correctional Center
"Yes. I have filed a grievance against material being block by the mail room. I won some of them, when I do, I rarely gotten the book. The explanation for blocking the material I tried to get in varies, and is vague, but mostly it is because the mail room officer didn't like it."
Menard CC IL
"Yes. I did once before but I never heard anything back."
CCDOC
"Yes. "The Vampire Film" book I was able to mail home. After my grievance for the hardcover "Billy Summer", the prison ended their ban on hardcovers and claimed they sent the book back to the vendor. I did not receive the book or a refund."
Federal Satellite Low Elkton
". You get a receipt and option to appeal the issue."
Salinas Valley State Prison
"Yes. No, but the grievances I written every single one has been denied by them and Springfield health care is no good and I'm a by lateral amputee with a severe health condition, they refuse me to see a neurologist."
Pinckneyville Prison Facility
"Yes. No, I have never been successful. The warden and director have always agreed with the mail room's decision."
North Dakota State Penitentiary
"Yes. Yes - same old - No wrong doing, can send copies of them if you want"
Big Muddy River CC IL
"Yes. I have many times. I got me nowhere. As of now, they're at Wabash, you can not get through the grievance process if it lasts. It's always bullshit, many times I'll get my books with the receipt and have to ask where my books are. They will deny ever getting them. They also send stuff back to publishers."
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, IN
"Yes. All of them denied by the fox who watches the hen house. They just lie stating all mail procedures are being followed."
N/A
"Yes. I have filed a grievance, but my papers get returned twice by demand for formality not what, or how they delay in processing my complaint."
N/A
"Yes. No! Maybe at making investigations & intelligence officers harass me! They never listed a reason. But during multiple interviwes, the stories changed from stains, powder substance, not sent from publisher. "you name it""
Indiana/ISF
"Yes. No. They held it until it was timed out."
IL, Marlor
"No. No prisoner at ISP has ever won a grievance. They do not even have a designation for a prisoner winning, only "dismissed" "addressed"."
I.S.P
"Yes. No. So I filed 2 lawsuits against bill clements, the mail room staff, the head of TDCJ, and the director and warden because im broke my cases are pending so Im creating a paper trail against the mail room."
Clifford Clark
"Yes. Yes, and I was successful in appealing to mail room / warden by citing cour cases. See enclosed for full explanation."
FCI Pekin
"No. None as of yet! I don't buy the materials because I don't want to have to donate thousands of dollars to the DOC."
WIDOC Taycheedah
"No. No, I haven't had something liek that happen to me yet."
WI Oshkosh
"Yes. They are met with denials and the response of 'take us to court', knowing the court costs of $500, which is not refundable even if you win disuades any type of challenge. Again any general reason can be offered in which to deny a book which should be allowed."
WI Stanley Correctional
"Yes. I did earlier in my incarceration, and all were shot down. I was naive at the time. I didn't know the prison-level complaint examiner was hopelessly corrupt, nor did I know I could appeal her decisions. I haven't ordered anything since then that I've felt worth filing a grievance. I've ordered a few mangas that I know might be questionable and hoped someone lenient was working in Property, but that's not something I'll contest."
WIDOC Waupun
"No. I started to but it's no point, the BP8 goes in front of their coworkers of which it'll most likely go to a BP10 so it's not worth the confrontation."
MCC Chicago
"Yes. Yes, several. Chambers always has her explanation for blocking which is always "Saturation" and "STG Material". Warden Reaghle always condones Chambers actions. Chambers refuses to send you copies of the saturation. Who knows if it is true? Who knows if she didn't do something to the material."
Indiana Pendleton
"No. My confiscated book regarding psychology and individual body language was blocked due to 'mani[ulation'. I thought this reasoning so egregious and shocking that I lapsed in my appropriate timeframe for filing the grievance. The material was subsequently defstroyed."
"No. No, from other people's experiences, they were repeatedly harassed and had their cells trashed while "searching" it."
USP Marion
"Yes. Yes I have, no success ever. Millions of bogus explanations, anything to cover the expression of pure will of sadistic psychopathic nuts."
WI/JCI
"No. No, I looked up the policy and once I saw that it was their policy, I realized that a grievance was useless because I want the policy changed which requires new legislation"
FCI Petersburg
"Yes. Absolutely not. I ahve filed on each issue and filed the 2nd step example cited as 'obscene pornography' to deny entire issues of "Out" magazine Jan/Feb 2023 was page 62 of what the magazine itself calls 2 men hugging. The prison claims one is a woman and you can see her breast in the mirror (although it is clearly a man and he has a beard)."
WIDOC
". The only grievance I filed was just a month ago about copying devotionals and only doing every other day (not the whole month)"
NCCF