Incommunicado
By Brandon Astor Jones
"We do not have the personnel to provide checks for amounts which should be covered within the inmate's 20 stamp/week purchase authorization." — Deputy Warden of Care and Treatment D. Glenn Suggs
On February 26, corrections officer second grade (CO-2) Jordan handed me a bundle of papers. Two were funds transfer forms. I had filled them out on February 14. I had requested that 33 cents be withdrawn from my account and paid to the United States Postal Service post office at, Jackson, Georgia, for a first class letter that I needed sent to California. There was also a letter that required 60 cents postage to be sent to Australia.
The words at the head of this article suggest that I have sufficient stamps to mail the letters, but I do not (nor did I have enough to do so then). The deputy warden knew that the store operator had sold me less than a dollar's worth of stamps that week. I should also note that on the following week I ordered 20 60-cent stamps, but I was restricted to 10. The Unit 1 manager, Mr Claude McCann, has now informed me that I am "only allowed to buy 20 33-cent stamps per week". While I am allowed to have $20 worth of stamps in the cell I occupy, I am allowed to purchase only $6.60 worth per week.
Now, more than 10 days later, the prison administration have sent the two letters in question back to me, saying that they do not have the personnel to handle my money requests, even though each month they charge me a forced fee. It is my money, and all parties approved the withdrawal of the money to pay for the postage (in writing) on February 15.
For several weeks now, I have tried to purchase a sufficient number of stamps so that I can send out my mail, but I am routinely denied that right and/or I am told that the prison store has run out of stamps (as well as a host of things needed to communicate with the Superior and Federal Courts to pursue my appeal). Even if I had been given the authorised amount of stamps, I still would not have had enough postage to maintain correspondence with lawyers, courts, family and friends. This is clearly a less than subtle attempt to restrict the number of my correspondents.
"Restrictions on the number of letters you may send or receive have been held invalid. Prison officials may forbid you to correspond with particular individuals if they have reasons meeting the Procounier standard, but they may not require [prisoners] to obtain prior authorization before ... correspond[ing] with particular individuals ..." — Guajardo v Estelle (1978) and Procounier v Martinez (1974).
Since it is obvious that the prison administration seeks to restrict my correspondence, its actions violate federal law. Further, its actions end all foreign and domestic support, via correspondence, for death row prisoners in Georgia.
I do not have to tell you that the prison administration would love to end my writing in this space. Therefore, I respectfully request that each reader and her or his friend call (or locate the e-mail address and e-mail) the Georgia Department of Corrections (and/or the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison) at 1 404 656 9772 and ask someone in a position of authority why we are being held incommunicado.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He welcomes letters commenting on his columns (include your name and full return address on the envelope, or prison authorities may refuse to deliver it). He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G3-77, Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]