Safety or Accountability? Information Censorship in America

During the 2011 Arab Spring uprising in Egypt, the authoritarian powers chose to temporarily shut down the Internet in an attempt to stop the flow of information and to censor the anti-regime rhetoric that was spreading like wildfire. The Egyptian authorities mistakenly believed that censoring access to information could stop a revolution from occurring in their country. This attempt at information censorship was designed to prevent the public from holding the authorities accountable for their corruption. 

Just last week another attempt at information censorship occurred. This time though, the censorship didn't occur in a repressive and authoritarian Middle Eastern country. It happened right here in Michigan. 

Whenever a news story runs on local television that reflects badly in some way on the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), prisons often shut down the local news channels within the prison in an attempt to censor our access to information. This occurred several months ago when a prisoner died at one prison as a result of being tasered by a corrections officer. It also occurred this past week when a prisoner killed his bunkie at another prison. The department also cuts articles about the MDOC or about specific prisoners out of the newspapers before delivering them to prisoners who subscribe. Obviously, censoring the local news stations and cutting out articles does not keep us prisoners from hearing about what happened through other channels.

The MDOC may have different motives for their censorship than keeping us from holding them accountable. More than likely their reason involves security of the institution, preventing riots and protests within prison. Some of this is a hold-over from the department dealing with riots several decades ago. However, the department also knows that the public is less likely to care about a death or department error within a prison setting than do those of us in prison. They know that advocacy and activism that occurs outside of prison often starts with those of us on the inside.

Whether or not the department's concern is safety or simply protecting themselves from accountability, in 2017 information censorship should not be unfathomable within the United States--even in prison.