INSIDE SCHNEWS

Schnews has heard that prison life has got even more shitty than usual for some of those inside. Denied not only his freedom, Pete Simpson had his copy of SchNEWS confiscated by an overzealous (ie- complete arsehole) screw. After a brief scam he decided that it “Wasn't suitable for prison”, and Pete was left without his weekly fix of direct action news and typographical errors.
Pete told us that the problem was that he received his copy with a parcel rather than as a letter on its own. Whereas letters are opened by the normally more liberal staff of the post room, rather than the warders on the wing, who are more likely to relish abusing what little authority they have.

Pete was nicked for possesion of a craft knife and documents that weren't in his name. Unfortunately his arrest came during the riots, and so what would have otherwise been a minor matter earned the guy 6 weeks on remand in HMP Brixton.  

Several zines were also confiscated, but his copy of Freedom (Whitechapel's Freedom Press anarcho monthly) got through without problems. Since then Pete's been bailed out of jail (and exiled from London) until his trial in December or January.

As already overfull prisons get even more crowded, and post-riot sentancing spirals even further into reactionary lock-em-up hell, prisoner support is more important than ever. More than anything else, prison is a lonely, boring experience. Writing letters to prisoners offers a ray of  glimpse of the world outside of the prison walls and let's prisoners know that just because they're in prison doesn't mean the rest of us have forgotten about them.

http://www.brightonabc.org.uk/support.html