MIM fights censorship at Waupun Correctional Institution

At the Not Down with the Lockdown rally, a MIM activist 
collected over 80 postcard signatures (before running out 
of postcards) opposing the censorship of MIM Notes at the 
Waupun facility in Wisconsin where we were recently 
notified of their censorship of MIM Notes. People attending 
the event understood immediately the connection between 
fighting the expansion of the youth jail and the importance 
of fighting repression behind bars. Until we win the battle 
against the criminal injustice system in its entirety (by 
overthrowing imperialism and putting into place a real 
system of justice) we will need to attack the system from 
all sides. Our comrades behind bars face serious repression 
and are not even allowed to receive political reading 
material because the facilities claim this education is "a 
clear and present danger to institutional security."
Many people signing the postcards asked about how this 
battle will proceed. The activist explained that our 
comrades behind bars file administrative grievances and 
then lawsuits against the censorship while we support these 
battles on the outside by putting political pressure on the 
head pigs at the prisons and embarrassing them through the 
independent media and other educational venues.
MIM sent a protest letter to the administration of Waupun 
Correctional Institution letting them know that we will not 
sit by and allow the censorship of MIM Notes to continue: 

MIM Distributors has received notices that MIM Notes is 
being rejected by your prison. The newspaper was sent to 
prisoner [X]. The rejection notice gives three reasons for 
this censorship of MIM Notes: 1) Item concerns an activity 
which, if completed, would violate the laws of Wisconsin, 
the United States or the administrative rules of the 
department of corrections. 2) Publication teaches or 
advocates behavior which violates the laws of Wisconsin, 
the united states or the rules of the department of 
corrections. 3) Publication teaches or advocates violence 
and presents a clear and present danger to institutional 
security. 

Our office is writing to object to the refusal to allow the 
inmates to receive MIM Notes and to urge you to reconsider 
the censorship of mail sent from MIM Distributors.
As this letter outlines, you do not have any legal 
justification for censoring MIM Notes. You will soon begin 
receiving postcards, letters, faxes and phone calls 
opposing this censorship of MIM Notes from concerned people 
across the country. MIM takes this censorship very 
seriously and we believe that people on the outside need to 
know what is going on in u.s. prisons. We will not drop 
this issue without a fight. 

MIM's Free Books for Prisoners Program sends books, 
newspapers, dictionaries and other educational material to 
prisoners. Since we would assume that the Wisconsin 
Department of Corrections does not oppose the self-
education of prisoners we would like to know the specific 
reason that this newspaper has been censored.

According to Procunier v. Martinez, the Supreme Court 
upholds the right of prisoners to receive mail, regardless 
of the prison official's opinion of the mail content, as 
long as there are no legitimate restrictions from the 
prison related to correctional purposes. The form from your 
institution does not provide any evidence to demonstrate 
that MIM Notes presents a danger to institutional security 
or that it advocates violating the law and we believe the 
claim is unfounded. The material in this paper does not 
related to anything that could be considered a threat to 
the safety and security of your prison. 

Our material helps prisoners to educate themselves and 
prepare for a productive return to general society. We 
repeatedly received feedback from prisoners stating that we 
help them to learn to stop fighting one another and instead 
to help educate one another. MIM Notes is a political 
newspaper covering events in this country and throughout 
the world. MIM does not advocate the violation of any 
Federal or State laws and does not advocate the violation 
of the rules of any correctional institution. In fact, MIM 
Notes explicitly encourages prisoners to follow rules, to 
avoid fights and confrontations with other inmates and/or 
staff. Additionally, prisoners reading MIM Notes and other 
material sent from MIM Distributors typically work harder 
than other prisoners to stay out of situations where 
altercations might occur because MIM Distributors works 
with prisoners to become productive and educated 
individuals.

We are pursuing this matter because we believe that 
prisoners should be allowed to receive and learn from 
educational material. We realize you may not agree with the 
content of the newspaper's analysis, but that is not a 
legal justification for censoring this newspaper. 

We ask readers of MIM Notes to send protest letters, faxes 
and phone calls to the addresses below. Also send a copy of 
your protest letters to MIM Notes. 

Captain Muraski
Waupun Correctional Institution
PO Box 351 Waupun, WI 53963

and

Warden Gary McCaughtry
200 S. Madison St
PO Box 351 Waupun
WI 53963-0351
Phone: 920-324-5571
Fax: 920-324-4478