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Criminal Justice New York State

Prison Agency Rescinds Censorship Policy After New York Focus Reporting

The policy and its sudden reversal will be among Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci’s last acts.

Chris Gelardi   ·   June 7, 2023
A gray cement wall with black marker lines on it.
New York prisons barred incarcerated creatives from publishing their work — until we reported on it. | Quinn Dombrowski via Wikimedia Commons
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The New York state prison agency rescinded rules blocking incarcerated writers and artists from publishing their work Wednesday, a day after New York Focus exposed the policy.

A May 11 directive established a stringent, months-long approval process for people in New York state prisons to publish creative work — including books, art, music, poetry, film scripts, and other writing — outside prison walls. The policy gave prison superintendents the power to block publication of work that violated any of a number of broad rules — including portraying the prison department in a way that could “jeopardize safety or security.” It also prohibited incarcerated people from getting paid for their creative work.

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision told New York Focus that it planned to apply the restrictions to journalism, which wasn’t mentioned in the directive. Incarcerated writers and watchdogs expressed concerns that the rules were meant to silence information-sharing and possibly violated the First Amendment.

“The Constitution does not give prison officials a choice whether to respect the fundamental rights of incarcerated New Yorkers,” said Antony Gemmell, director of detention litigation for the New York Civil Liberties Union. “DOCCS should be embarrassed that this policy ever saw the light of day. We’re glad to hear that it’s being rescinded.”

DOCCS had not published the directive to its website until New York Focus reached out last week.

In a statement first reported by HuffPost and The Marshall Project, DOCCS claimed that the directive “is not being interpreted as the Department intended” and that “it was never our objective to limit free speech or creative endeavors.” New York Focus had given DOCCS multiple opportunities to clarify the scope of the directive in advance of the initial article.

The department also said that it will “engage … stakeholders to revise the policy.” When New York Focus asked for more context and a timeline for a new policy, DOCCS simply re-sent the statement.

The policy and its sudden reversal will be among the last episodes of the tenure of Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci, who has headed the prison agency for a decade. His last day is Friday.

“It’s a great thing,” said Freddy Medina, a writer who wrote and reported for New York Focus before he was released from prison in September. The rescindment means that DOCCS “knew they were doing something they weren’t supposed to,” he said.

According to Medina, in the leadup to the New York Focus article’s publication, the policy had “created a buzz” among incarcerated people he’s in touch with.

He emphasized what a blow the directive would have been to many still on the inside. “You’re not only silencing voices,” he said. “You’re taking away everything.”

BEFORE YOU GO, consider: If not for the article you just read, would the information in it be public?

Or would it remain hidden — buried within the confines of New York’s sprawling criminal-legal apparatus?

I started working at New York Focus in 2022, not long after the outlet launched. Since that time, our reporters and editors have been vigorously scrutinizing every facet of the Empire State’s criminal justice institutions, investigating power players and the impact of policy on state prisons, county jails, and local police and courts — always with an eye toward what it means for people involved in the system.

That system works hard to make those people invisible, and it shields those at the top from scrutiny. And without rigorous, resource-intensive journalism, it would all operate with significantly more impunity.

Only a handful of journalists do this type of work in New York. In the last decades, the number of local news outlets in the state has nearly halved, making our coverage all the more critical. Our criminal justice reporting has been cited in lawsuits, spurred legislation, and led to the rescission of statewide policies. With your help, we can continue to do this work, and go even deeper: We have endless ideas for more ambitious projects and harder hitting investigations. But we need your help.

As a small, nonprofit outlet, we rely on our readers to support our journalism. If you’re able, please consider supporting us with a one-time or monthly gift. We so appreciate your help.

Here’s to a more just, more transparent New York.

Chris Gelardi
Criminal Justice Investigative Reporter
Chris Gelardi is a reporter for New York Focus investigating the state’s criminal-legal system. His work has appeared in more than a dozen other outlets, most frequently The Nation, The Intercept, and The Appeal. He is a past recipient of awards from Columbia… more
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