Tracking Prison Censorship in the United States

Mr. Peter Huibregtse, Warden
1101 Morrison Drive
PO Box 1000
Boscobel, WI 53805-0900

11 July 2008


Dear Mr. Huibregtse,

I am writing you regarding the enclosed notice of non-delivery of mail, which notified MIM Distributors of the censorship of a letter that was sent to Mr. XXXXXX XXXXXX at WSPF. The notice gives 2 reasons for the censorship. The first claims that the letter concerns illegal activities. Not only are there no illegal activities promoted in the letter, but if you refer to the second paragraph, there is a notice stating, ?We encourage prisoners to join these battles while explicitly discouraging them from engaging in any violence or illegal acts.? We advised MIM to add this notice in response to facilities such as WSPF, which have repeatedly claimed that their mail promotes illegal activities.

I am requesting that you send me a copy of DOC 309.04(4) c 8.b., which is cited on the notice. Until I have read this rule I cannot speak to the claim that the letter may violate administrative code, but we certainly hope to work with you to ensure that MIM?s correspondence with prisoners at WSPF is not violating these rules in any way.

The second charge is that the letter poses a threat to the facility. As the letter explicitly discourages prisoners from engaging in violence or breaking any laws or rules, there is clearly nothing to substantiate this claim. As you are probably aware, censoring mail due to the opinions and political perspectives therein does violate the law, starting with the U.S. Constitution.

I hope that upon review of this matter you will concur that these violations are unfounded and will allow Mr. XXXXXX and others to receive mail from MIM Distributors as is their legal right. I also look forward to reviewing a copy of your DOC 309.04(4) c 8.b. policy.