MIM fights censorship at Waupun Correctional Institution
July 28 -- 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
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