Magazine Order to Inmate Declined

[legallycurious]

Greetings,

I ordered this magazine:

amazon [dot] com [forward-slash] gp [forward-slash] product [forward-slash] B001PR0M7S

...to an inmate detained at SCI Coal Township (Northumberland County, PA), a state correctional facility. There is no nudity in the magazine and I believe it definitely has literary value. I tracked the shipping on the United States Postal Service's website and it has confirmed the order was delivered to the correct address, under the correct name, and included the correct inmate number. If the prison staff does not forward my friend the magazine I paid for, isn't there anything wrong with that? The sum of the payments is under $20. The magazine was $6.99 and the shipping was $3.99.

Thank you for any feedback.

EDIT
There are two things I forgot to mention.

1) If you put this in the Google search bar the first link that shows up will be the mail policy, but it says it is not there to serve as a legal guide or something like that:

mail publications policy site:cor.state.pa.us

2) I got the idea that I could probably send a Swimsuit magazine partly because of an ACLU document about inmate mail. The document is at:

aclu [dot] org [forward-slash] files [forward-slash] pdfs [forward-slash] prison [forward-slash] kyr_publicationsbymail [dot] pdf

 

[mightymoose]

The best thing you can do is contact the facility and ask about this.
After reading the policy, I am fairly confident that the magazine is withheld with the reasoning that its intent is to provide sexual gratification and has no educational value. Read the portion that addresses exceptions to the rule... the SI Swimsuit Issue apparently does not pass the test.

 

[legallycurious]

Thank you for your reply.

 

[legallycurious]

According to that ACLU document, federal prison rules specifically allow sports magazine swimsuit issues. While the inmate I purchased the gift for is detained at a state correctional facility, might the reasoning behind the federal prison acceptance of the magazine also hold up to argue for state prison acceptance?

Regarding educational value as the primary intention, I think I have at least 3 pieces of evidence to support that as my primary intention:

1) I called Sports Illustrated today and asked if the specific magazine I ordered has educational value and the woman I spoke with said "yes." I wrote down the time and date I called.

2) I am presently employed as an educator and it is my second job as one.

3) I have ordered other magazines (such as Psychology Today) that I think are obvious that the intention is education.

Of course, me proving my "intention" with hard certainty could be an upward battle (because nobody but me can directly access my mind). But if that's the case, then that is equally true for them.

That Mail and Publication Policy document says it is not intended to be used as actual laws. Does anyone recommend a place to find the actual laws regarding prison mail? Something up-to-date and specific to Pennsylvania is ideal.

Thanks again.

Edit: Yikes. I just realized I double-posted. Sorry. Will someone merge this post and the last one? Thanks.