Don't Kill My Vibe: Arizona Inmate Alleges @kendricklamar CD Ban Is Unconstitutional In Appeal To 9th Circuit kjzz.org/content/165846…
When an inmate receives a letter, magazine, book or CD in the mail, prison administrators review the materials first. If the items fall within one of several broad categories established by Department of Corrections guidelines, the inmate is denied the material.
Reasons for exclusion can include “depictions of street gangs” to “descriptions of drug paraphernalia.”

While the Department has made revisions, the guidelines for these publications have been repeatedly ruled to be unconstitutional in federal court because they were overbroad
Now, Arizona inmate is suing the Department of Corrections, alleging the guidelines are being applied unevenly. Edward Lee Jones, an inmate at the Eyman state prison in Florence, had a Kendrick Lamar CD confiscated, supposedly because it promoted violence and had sexual content
But his attorneys say other publications with similar content are allowed: "At the same time, inmates are allowed to watch violent TV shows like ‘Dexter,’ read James Patterson books that describe rape, and listen to country music songs about cold-blooded murder.”
Easha Anand, Supreme Court and appellate counsel at the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, is representing Edward Lee Jones. Anand says under the First Amendment, prison officials have to apply any regulations neutrally.
Jones lost a previous complaint over the confiscated CDs in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, and Anand is now representing him in an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The @ACLU and the Becket Fund For Religious Liberty are supporting Jones in amicus briefs
Anand is challenging the District Court ruling, which suggested Jones had “other available alternatives” like country music to listen to:

“Country music is not an alternative to Kendrick Lamar. Music that feels like the right form of expression for you is not interchangeable.”
Prison officials have broad discretion to maintain security, but there are constitutional limits on what they can do.
In 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver found the department’s policy on banned media “violates the First Amendment on its face.” kjzz.org/content/812486…
The ACLU sued the Department of Corrections in 2019 for banning "Chokehold," a book by former prosecutor Paul Butler that calls for significant changes in the criminal justice system. kjzz.org/content/946666…
The Department of Corrections also maintains a database of banned material. A 2019 review of the database by KJZZ revealed more than 5,000 publications were banned in Arizona prisons at the time. kjzz.org/content/121381…

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More from @JimmyJenkins

10 Feb
Starting in 2 minutes - Committee On Criminal Justice Reform in the House of Representatives at the Arizona statehouse azleg.gov/videoplayer/?c… Image
HB2320 would expand the ability to seal arrest and sentencing records - @StevenScharbone just gave a really powerful statement on why he thinks it should be expanded to more formerly incarcerated people to help them with challenges they face azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/… Image
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Story Updated: Inmates in Arizona, California & New Mexico can't access stimulus payments because the IRS sent debit cards to the prisons. @ysalahi tells me it's "consistent with a pattern of the IRS failing to work with state correctional authorities"
More: The Arizona Department of Corrections just released this inmate notification: "The Internal Revenue Service has sent a large number of stimulus debit cards to ADCRR . . . there is no system in place to process debit cards."
More details from an incarcerated person in Arizona about the confusion this debit card debacle is causing:

"Here is the general problem. Whenever something is sent to a prisoner which would be prohibited, the prisoner should get a contraband form/notification . . .
Read 13 tweets
22 Jan
BREAKING: The Arizona Department of Corrections says it's unable to process the second federal stimulus payment for inmates because the IRS is distributing the money on debit cards. The Department says many other states are experiencing the same problem kjzz.org/content/165286…
It was not immediately clear how many inmates in AZ state prisons have been affected. Several relatives of people in state prisons have contacted KJZZ in recent days, saying their family members, located at different prisons across the state, were told the money was not available
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1 Dec 20
I've just received word that the incarcerated men I emailed for comment on this story have been contacted by prison staff and warned not to respond
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When ADC abolished inmate phone interviews with the press this summer, they pointed out that "media may exchange an unlimited number of emails" with inmates - now they're shutting down that communication as well
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A group of Trump supporters is gathered outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix where they're expecting Arizona republican leaders and Trump campaign officials to speak today
the number of flags per capita is off the charts
Speakers here say they will not accept the results of the election under any circumstances
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Tracie Otero wrote to me from the Perryville women's prison in August saying she was in so much pain that she had considered taking her life. She claims she wasn't able to see a doctor or receive proper medical treatment. She died by suicide yesterday.
According the Department of Corrections: "Tracie G. Otero, 47, died on Sept 22 from an apparent act of self-harm by hanging. Prison staff discovered her Tuesday morning unresponsive in her assigned housing location.
Paramedics transported her to Abrazo West Campus, where she was later pronounced deceased at 4:08 p.m."
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