I read a case where an individual was sentenced to time in a "Special Housing Unit" for keeping stamps, an atlas, and a used ink cartridge in the NAACP office that he was responsible for at Sing Sing. He was also "guilty" of composing a letter to a religious organization, in which he requested to pay for religious materials, to distribute to the general population, with stamps or have someone else (on the outside) send a check, since the inmates did not have any access to cash.

This is particularly disturbing to me because this is an obvious abuse of whatever these rules were set up for, yet the District Court reviewing his petition felt no need to do anything whatsoever. I understand that courts can only adjudicate the issues that are presented before them, although that doesn't stop some of them (see Ashcroft v. Iqbal), but sometimes you just have to wonder what the heck is going on. I mean come on already...it's one thing to write up prisoners for illegal behavior, but stamps and an ink cartridge? Really?! This is even more amazing to me considering all of the illegal activities that do take place in prisons and go overlooked and unpunished.

I heard someone say the other day that sometimes when you try to fight "monsters" you can become one yourself. I think we fall into this behavior much more than many of us are willing to admit. But, as in the words of Lavar,"you don't have to take my word for it." See for yourself. The citation is Joseph v. Fischer, 2009 WL 3321011 (S.D.N.Y. 2009).