Transcript
[No Title] Are prisoners across the United states being discriminated against by a major information clearinghouse? I say yes, and I'm in the beginning research stages of a lawsuit and would welcome your comments. Reader Service Information Cards are those post cards in magazines where you circle or check any of 25 to 100, or more, numbers associated with the advertisers, to receive more information on the location or product you checked. For a couple years, as I would find these cards in Texas Monthly, Readers Digest, Conde Nast Traveller, National Geographic Traveller, Texas Highways, Guideposts, and a few random others, I'd carefully mark some areas I was interested in, and send the card in. Over the course of years, I'd send multiple cards in from some magazines (different months). I have never received a single piece of information from any of these cards. I finally realized all of these cards, no matter the magazine, went to the same Post Office box in Naples, Florida. Upon further investigation, I was able to find this companies name, but won't mention it in this writing, and I found a contact person with a different P.O. box. I wrote that person, too, and never heard a word. It seemed the Naples, FL Post Office boxes attached to a shredder! Finally, after writing a letter to the Naples, FL Post Office direct, I received a response saying this person had contacted the company that owned that P.O. box and they said, "they do not send information to inmates". Therein lies the problem. They say in these magazines to check the areas you want more information about, yet they won't send that information to a certain class of people; inmates. I can only make assumptions as to how they know I am an inmate, the zip code (but I've tried two or three), the address, or they've just blackballed my name entirely. I contacted the Better Business Bureau serving West Florida and filed a complaint with them. It was resolved with a simple statement by the company, "Our clients (magazine publishers) provide all rules we are to follow regarding inmate processing. Any complaints regarding this processing should be routed directly to the magazines." So, I tried contacting the magazines and they didn't respond either. With the commonality of some 6+ magazines, published across the United States, pointing to this one company in Naples, FL, I feel that is where the discrimination against inmates lies. Granted, this is not a major discrimination issue, but in a world where inmates are already considered second class citizens, sometimes hated by family and friends, despised by others, having a company refuse to send you literature they freely send to the rest of the world feels like discrimination. If anyone would care to send your comments, feel free to write me at: Russell McElvain, Huntsville, TX
