A judge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the FBI to greatly increase the speed at which it is producing documents responsive to a professor’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The request was made by Professor Nina Gilden Seavey, a documentary filmmaker and professor in the Department
By Kamea Zelisko How about these for credentials for an authority on prison issues: authoring a handbook on prison life, three books on subjects examining ways education can benefit inmates, plus a steady stream of articles in national magazines, newspapers and blogs on a wide range of legal and other incarceration-related topics. No less
Petersburg, VA – A Virginia prisoner, prisoner advocate, and author was recently targeted by the U.S. Counter-Terrorism Unit for his writing activities. “I’m a U.S.-born citizen with no ties to any terrorist organization, I don’t understand why I’m being targeted like this,” says Christopher Zoukis, a current inmate at FCI Petersburg Medium serving time for
Counter-Terrorism Unit Tasked with Prison Censorship The life of an incarcerated writer is anything but ordinary. While my fellow prisoners are working out on the yard, playing cards, or watching television, I am often at the desk in my cell or in the law library working on my next project. It’s long and hard work,
BOP Attacks Incarcerated Writer Christopher Zoukis, Again By Kamea Zelisko Christopher Zoukis is no stranger to censorship by Federal Bureau of Prisons officials. Those who write from prison often have to contend with interference and retaliation at the hands of prison officials. They are thrown into solitary confinement, transferred to more violent prisons, and have
15,000 book titles have been have been banned from Texas prisons. By Christopher Zoukis Every year, the American Library Association declares the final week of September “Banned Books Week,” commemorated in many libraries with displays designed to highlight often-overreaching censorship of school and public libraries. This year, however, a far-flung wave of stories in many
Prison Legal News has launched an important lawsuit against Arizona’s Department of Corrections over the withholding of their publication from prisoners. The editions in question discuss documented cases of rape and sexual violence perpetrated by prison staff against inmates—one of which took place in an Arizona prison and was heard in federal court. Many inmates
The term “gadfly” was used by Plato in The Apology to describe Socrates’s relationship to the Athenian political scene, which he compared to a slow and dimwitted horse. Essentially, Socrates was a goad, a poignant reminder of right and wrong. So a gadfly is someone who upsets the existing state of affairs by asking uncomfortable
By Randy Radic We at the Prison Law Blog are on high alert following a series of retaliatory incident reports against Christopher Zoukis, PLB founder, by FCI Petersburg staff. Due to the significant amount of inquiries received, we’ve decided to present the facts of the evolving situation. First Incident Report On October 10, 2014, Mr.
By Prison Legal News Prison Legal News continues its efforts to defend its First Amendment right to communicate with prisoners in the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC). In 1999 the NDOC banned all copies of PLN, claiming the publication constituted “inmate correspondence.” PLN filed suit and was granted a preliminary injunction requiring the delivery of
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