My name is Phyllis Coleman, President of D.E.N.I.S., which stands for "Defenders, Equalizers & Negotiators for the Institutionalized Society." I am an advocate for prisoners, and have been helping them since December 2000.

At first, I created a one page, two-sided newsletter, and sent it in to one prisoner to pass out. Eventually, I started receiving letters from prisoners all over the state of Illinois, telling me of their problems and plights to receive justice. This caused my newsletter to grow. I have since published up to an 18 page newsletter, which others have considered to be a magazine.

Since publishing the newsletters, a prisoner wrote to the President of Coalition for Prisoner Rights, located in New Mexico. The prisoner stated that I had an excellent newsletter, to which the President put an ad in her newsletter about D.E.N.I.S. Newsletters. I have since been bombarded with letters from prisoners all over the United States.

The newsletters contains case law, to assist the prisoners with filing their motions and briefs. It contains articles and poetry written by the prisoners, and edited by me. It also contains news items and birthday greetings.

The Illinois Department of Corrections, and staff (hereafter "IDOC"), is responsible for all of these prisoners, and what happens to them.

I received letters from prisoners, telling me of abuse, torture,and even murder. Some letters were about good time taken from them; Visitation rights being denied, apparently to affect the morale of prisoners, family members and friends; Sexual assaults by not only other inmates, but also guards; Property issues, when they (IDOC)are constantly transferring prisoners from one prison to another, and once they arrive, the property that they are in possession of (i.e. TV's, radios, headphones, coffee pots, etc), and have purchased from the previous institution, is considered to be "contraband." The property then has to be either disposed of or sent home. The then prisoners have to purchase the same items from the new prison, and the same thing happens if they are transferred again; Another issue is that prisoners file grievances to no avail. The sad part about it all is that these prisoners are considered to be "Wards of the State of Illinois", yet their family members are the ones who send in the money to purchase these items.

In 2000, I talked with a business person in Shawnee, who had a friend that worked for the Disposal Company. That friend, while on his route, found a large garbage bag, full of grievances, on the side of the road. They either deny the grievances, or just dispose of them. What good is it to file a grievance if it doesn't mean anything?

There are so many wrongfully convicted prisoners that are incarcerated today, and justice does not prevail. One example: a prisoner was convicted of a murder and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment. In October 2002, two federal judges signed an Order for his release, after witnesses came forward and proved his innocence. The attorneys were there to pick him up at the gate. He smiled as he was about to finally leave, after serving 8 years of the term. As soon as they opened the gates, an officer came forward with a piece of paper, stating the the State filed an emergency motion, thereby taking that prisoner back to his cell. To date, he is still incarcerated, and literally losing his mind.

I could go on and on with the problems that prisoners have, but I want to get to the problem I'm having now, which prompted me to file a Petition online, which has now mysteriously disappeared.

In December 2003, I published a "Special Edition of my newsletter, allowing other advocates to insert articles about their organizations.

One institution actually mailed all of the newsletters back to me, and stated that they could not deliver them to the prisoners because it was considered "Gang-Related". When I called to find out what, in the newsletter, was considered gang-related, I was told the word "Uhuru" was a gang-related word.

The word Uhuru, in African language means "FREEDOM" that that's all it means. The person who wrote the article was Fred Hampton, Jr. This is the reason they considered it gang-related. This is the reason they banned my newsletter.

Then in January 2004, the newsletter contained an article written by a prisoner, regarding the death of another prisoner. This newsletter has been banned by several of the institutions.

It's not like I was telling the prisoners something they didn't know. They witness these kinds of things, almost on a daily basis.

I received a letter from a prisoner and he also sent the slip that was given him by the prison, stating why he couldn't receive D.E.N.I.S. newsletter. The slip stated: "1) Be written in code or facilitates communication between offenders; 2) Advocate or encourage violence, hatred, or group disruption or it poses an intolerable risk of violence or disruption; and 3) Be otherwise detrimental to security, good order, rehabilitation, or discipline or it might facilitate criminal activity or be detrimental to mental health." This is all untrue.

After banning my newsletters, IDOC went to the point of trying to stop all communication between the prisoners and myself. After prisoners wrote letters, they received them back, with a rubber-stamped finger on them, stating that D.E.N.I.S. had moved, the address was unknown, or that the letter had been denied. I have a couple of the envelopes for proof.

I spoke with the Postal Supervisor, who told me that they don't use a rubber stamp, and if one was on the envelope, it never reached their post office. One of the letters in my possession has a Peoria postmark.

To add despair to injury, IDOC is now stopping all donations from prisoners. I was not aware of the situation, because I wasn't receiving mail, but a colleague told me that some prisoners asked if I had receive their donations. After checking with me, and finding out I never received the donations, the colleague told the prisoners that I hadn't received anything. The prisoners are in possession of receipts, proving that they sent money to me. They also filed grievances about the denial.

I recently received a letter at my home from a prisoner, who told me that he tried sending a $15 donation, but Internal Affairs stopped it. I was under the impression that Internal Affairs only dealt with situations within the prisons.

A newly released prisoner just called me last week, and told me that he too sent a $25 donation, and thought I had received it, but that I just never contacted him. He also said that upon his release, and checking his inmate trust fund, the $25 is missing.

IDOC has not only violated my Constitutional Right to Freedom of Speech, they have also denied my right to correspond with prisoners, and denied them the right to read publications and receive correspondence from me.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to speak and publish, without unreasonable government interference. IDOC's actions are objectively unreasonable and are undertaken intentionally with a willful indfference to my Constitutional Right.

I have only tried to assist inmates in their plight for justice. I don't deserve this treatment, no more than the prisoners deserve the treatment they receive. They too have a right to read publications of human interest, as they have a right to be treated as a HUMAN BEING!

If you are interested in viewing the newsletters, donating or commenting on this article, please feel free to visit my website at:
www.a-chance.org/denis

Thank you all, and may God Bless you.