Nate Lindell, like many inmates across the country, is on social media in prison. He has been charged with violating several DOC policies by having a Facebook page that posts his art and writings: Facebook.com/PrometheusWrites. Is this a First Amendment violation?
I worked for a year as a tutor for GED students in my prison (the Columbia Correctional Institution, CCI). Then I began college classes for small business entrepreneurism at the Madison Area Technical College (MATC), earning a 3.85 GPA my first semester and a 4.00 this last semester. I don’t use or sell drugs, nor am I in any gang.
Despite busting my butt to do what’s right while in prison, due to an illegal policy (explained below), I was fired from my job as a tutor and lost the single cell that I’d earned from years without discipline. Staff then ordered me to move in with an untreated mentally ill person (“Ben”). Several hours after being moved in with Ben, he bit his wrist (in front of staff), screamed that I was gay, and told staff that I slapped his butt. (I’m neither gay nor a homophobe/transphobe.)
Despite no sexual misconduct in my 25-year prison record, despite no history of sex charges (and a history of having been sexually abused as a child), I was moved into CCI’s worst seg/RHU unit (DS1) based on Ben’s accusation.
The Harsh Reality of Segregation
Feces, blood, semen, and pepper spray stained the walls. The mattress and pillow had their stuffing exposed, reeked of old body fluids and waste, and couldn’t be sanitized if the captives entrusted with that task cared to do so (and they don’t). I couldn’t breathe through my nose due to OC residue in the bedding. Much of my property was destroyed, stolen, or damaged because of Ben’s claims that I was gay and slapped his butt.
Free Speech and the Social Media Ban
What makes it more ironic is that staff knew that I was in prison for killing someone because I thought he sold child porn. Childhood sexual abuse had traumatized me. That chain of events was set in motion due to Adult Conduct Report #00334012, which charged me with violating several rules based on having a Facebook page that posts my art and writings: Facebook.com/PrometheusWrites.
A Department of Adult Institutions (DAI) policy and procedure #300.00.82 was enacted that directed prison staff to discipline and otherwise obstruct people in Wisconsin prisons from creating or having others maintain for a captive any social media accounts or any websites.
Why the Social Media Policy Is Illegal
That policy was enacted several months after the U.S. District Court in Madison reaffirmed its earlier decision that it violated the First Amendment to punish a prisoner for posting an article on his blog. See Kalafi v. Brown, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105201 (W.D. Wis. 2 June 2018).
The former DAI director enacted a policy that he knew was illegal, and prison staff are enforcing it in particularly cruel ways. Not only is the policy unconstitutional, it is also illegal under the statutes that concern administrative law. Wis. Stat. ss. 227.11(1)&(2)(a)¹ makes clear that agencies, including the Department of Corrections, are not allowed to pass laws but may only interpret laws that the agency exists to carry out.
Silenced as an Artist and Journalist
As an artist, journalist, and poet, my material is on dozens of websites and hundreds if not thousands of social media accounts. I must stop writing newspaper editors, activists, and publishers of any sort², because if they post my thoughts on their websites or social media (which they all have), then I can’t work as a tutor, I may be moved in with a lunatic, I will go to seg/RHU, I must sleep on filthy bedding, and I will have property stolen and destroyed—all because I dared to express myself.
My lawsuit about this will be filed as soon as I’ve exhausted the grievance process.
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1 The statute states: “(1) Except as expressly provided, this chapter does not confer rule making authority upon or augment the rule making authority of any agency.
“(2) Rule making authority is expressly conferred on an agency as follows:
“(a) Each agency may promulgate rules interpreting the provisions of any statute enforced or administered by the agency, if the agency considers it necessary to effectuate the purpose of the statute, but the rule is not valid if the rule exceeds the bounds of correct interpretation.”
There are no statutes directing the Wisconsin prison system to in any way restrict internet postings by incarcerated persons.
2 Wis. Admin. Code ss. DOC 309.04(2)(c) guarantees that “The department shall permit an inmate to correspond with anyone.” The unauthorized P&P 300.00.82 obstructs this authorized regulation.
Want to read more? Don’t miss Using a Cell Phone in Prison for Self-Improvement
One Comment
Mary, please try not to be so negative toward someone who is obviously doing the best he is able while captive in such deplorable conditions. Perhaps you should be praying for his mortal soul instead of condemning him, as you are no appointed judge of Heaven. I will pray for your soul. And let God judge you. Peace to you.