2025 Censorship Update - Survey Results
Viewing survey response from WIDOC Waupun
- Have you ever had books or other materials blocked or confiscated? If so, which ones? Why? Tell us about it.
"Yes. Mostly what gets blocked are manga, denied for nudity, though based on sending the books back to the family, they say it's usually onle one or two panels in a book and a typical manga runs about 120 pages. I'm ordering these out of Edward R Hamilton's catalog and I'm not familiar with the series, so I don't exactly know what the content is. I avoid the ones with descriptions that make me certain they're hentai, but sometimes I order ones that sound risque, like Body Royal, and hope they don't have nudity. I don't get it something like that is denied. But often ones that have no hint of objectionable contenty in their description gets denied, and those I'll mention.
I will note I've gotten art books and anatomy for artists books (I'm an artist myself) that contain nudity. I really think most of it is down to who is working in property.
I've also had mail blocked for "copyright infringement". Billie Eilish's British Vogue photos, scans of comic / manbga art (not full books, just select pages), and stock photos. Often I have it resent it and it comes through, proving the first denial was the result of an overzealous mailroom employee.
I also suspect that WCI's mailroom may be denying me catalogs/correspondence from Edward R Hamilton bookseller. I've gone as far as to have family on the outside order a catalog for me after I wrote several times requesting one went unanswered. It's been 30 days and even the family-ordered hasn't come." - Have you ever been punished for reading material that was sent to you? If yes, what were the materials and what was the punishment?
"No. " - Should the prisons have the power to control what you can and cannot read or see? If yes OR no, why?
"Yes. I'm not an anarchist, and believe that law enforcement and prisons have a legitimate place in society. It's not like we live in a utopia. I feel there is a legitimate reason to restrict the content we have access to. That said, there is a tremendous overreach going on. The prisons should have to be subjected to oversight from a 3rd party who's goal is defending prisoner' First Amendment Rights anytime they want to deny a book. Denials should really be closely limited to instructional works on subjects like hand-to-hand combat, alcohol production, etc.
Of course any ban is meaningless to any sufficiently motivated inmate. I've only been incarcerated for a few years and I've run across guys who can each any number of banned book subjects. Plenty of people who can teach about drugs and alcohol. I picked up some martial arts tricks from an ex-Army Sergeant, sparing with him in security camera blindspots. Myself, I can draw people at the level of a professional illustrator and several times other artists have wanted me to teach them how to draw Hentai (Not that I think prisons have any business restricting access to porn outside of a sex-offender treatment program)" - Are you in a facility that scans incoming mail? Does the mailroom copy or scan newsletters and other printed reading materials? Does the facility's scanning policy affect your ability to read books and literature?
"Yes. WIDOC uses TextBehind, who regularly butchers the quality. Text isn't too bad, but photos get massively degraded regularly. The same photo can be sent multiple times and out out looking different each time. They've even squished photos out of proportion just to fit them onto one page rather than printing it correctly on another page (obviously to save a few cents). As an artist, having my reference imagery come through distorted is aggravating, and it's disrespectful to treat my family photos so poorly." - In your present facility or any previous ones, did you receive a clear explanation of the facilities censorship policy? If yes, is it applied consistently or fairly? If no, what is it they tell you when something gets blocked?
"No. The policy is not clear at all. The furthest any of the handbooks we are issued at WCI go is basically no gang-related publications, no pornographic publications, and no nudity in personal photos. It does not define exactly what falls under those terms, and as I've found out the hard way the definitions can defy common sense, or even normal legal standards.
I've detailed my ordeal with the WIDOC's porn policy separately, but suffice to say one has to have access to the legal library and research before they'll know what is or isn't allowed. IN case I still don't find it clear since the WIDOC porn policy is more restrictive than what multiple Court decisions say, prisoners have a right to access, to the point where we get denied books with the same level or less explicit content than what one might see in an R-rated movie.
Like I described in Question 1, enforcement is inconsistant and unfair. Denial based on "nudity" when there is none or it's very limited (our state policy says nudity is disallowed only if the publication features it on a regular basis, or a one-time issue promotes itself based on nudity). Denial based on themes that aren't outlined by policy and would even be protected by the First Amendment.
But at times I've received books and comics that are absolutely sexually graphic. A "Letters to Penthouse" collection and "Object of Desire, a manga with sex depicted so graphically that the only non-porn I've seen that are explicitly detailed as "Not Rated" works like Nymphomaniac. Unlike a hentai manga, "Object" doesn't focus on the genitals, penetration, etc, usually, and when it does, it is stylized in a way that sort of self-censors the most graphic details of anatomy. It's more about the romance of sex, but you can still see things such as a female with her mouth around the shaft of a penis.
As well, network TV like "Law and ORDER: SVU" regularly depicts what the WIDOC policy would define as "human sexual behavior" (prohibited even without nudity), and this institution itself has played a number of PG-13 films with brief nudity and strong sexual content, or even R-rated films with full frontal nudity and explicit sex scenes." - Have you ever filed a grievance against your materials being blocked by the mailroom or getting confiscated? Were you successful? What was the explanation for blocking the material?
"Yes. I did earlier in my incarceration, and all were shot down. I was naive at the time. I didn't know the prison-level complaint examiner was hopelessly corrupt, nor did I know I could appeal her decisions. I haven't ordered anything since then that I've felt worth filing a grievance. I've ordered a few mangas that I know might be questionable and hoped someone lenient was working in Property, but that's not something I'll contest." - Why do you think prisons censor what materials you can get? What's their game?
- Is reading important to you? If yes, how so? As a way to pass time? As self-improvement? Education? Do you read daily?
"Yes. Absolutely. I don't read daily, or even monthly, but when I want to I can devour a 1000+ page novel in a weekend. I read for fun, education (which is synonymous with self-improvement), and expanding my understanding of culture. More than once I've forced myself through a renowned classic just to try and divine why it is considered such." - What do you like to read? Wha books or magazines are in your locker or on your shelf right now? How do you get books - from family? Friends? Books to prisoner projects, etc?
- Are there things you want to read right now that are blocked? If so, what are they and why do you want them?
"Yes. I think the big one is Sun Tzu's "Art of War". It's one of the most significant historical texts out there, and I have a cultural connection to it as I'm Chinese. I'm of the opinion the ban on this book is racially motivated, or rather was when it first was banned, and the DOC is too stubborn to change. It's not like "The Art of War" holds any secrets these days, with some of his teachings being absorbed into modern psychology. And I can still access Machiavelli's writings, as well as a number of modern military strategy/tactic books and rather aggressive pseudo-psychology self-help books by Western authors.
I'm vaguely curious in reading/suing the manga volumes I was denied that are [part of the same series that other volumes were approved. I can't believe a manga that hides nudity in one volume would show it in another, especially since both series have "Teen" ratings" - Are you able to organize an authorized book club or reading group in your present facility?
- Have you ever participated in a book club or group?
- Have you ever been prohibited from informally discussing books as a group?
- Do you have access to a law library? If so, are passes or ducats to the library readily available or tough to get? Do you receive the materials you need? Are there any restrictions you face, or barriers to accessing materials?
"Yes. This place is so understaffed and poorly run, they have trouble getting us 2 showers a week. Inmates regularly end up on academic probation because the Security Office cancels school passes so frequently. Currently, they're denying us access to the law library in violation of constitutional rights.
Under normal circumstances it's difficult unless you have a court deadline. Those passes are prioritized. And even those are subject to the frequent cancellations Wapun suffers. It's expected that all non-medical Friday passes will get cancelled, and often school/library passes are cancelled during other days of the week as well. The regular library gets cancelled so much it can take weeks. Under our current lockdown, which the Warden stated in a memo has no set end date, they are illegally denying us any access to the law library. I wrote the legal librarian requesting copies of specific policies and he denied me, telling me I didn't need them. Obviously it's not up to him to decide what information I do and do not need. The denial of access to the law library violates the findings of Marshall v. Knight, 445 f.3d 965, 969 (7th Cir. 2006) and Corgain v Miller, 708 f.2d 1241, 1250 (7th Cir. 1983)." - How do you feel about the quality of the books made available in your facility's law library? Do you have access to printing or a copy machine? Is there a computer? What do you wish you had access to or available in a law library?
- Has access to the law library at your present facility changed following the pandemic? If yes, how?
". " - Does the facility allow you to bring books and other literature to the yard?
- Are you allowed to share books or literature? Comments on sharing?
"No. WCI only allows legal and religious items to be brought to the rec areas." - Do you use a tablet? If so, how do you feel about the options for reading material available on it? What companies provide services on it? What services do they offer?
"Yes. Yes, WIDOC uses Access Tablets (I have a SCORE 7). The only reading material available is Project Gutenberg Free Library. There are obivous issues with copyright free material mostly from the late 1800s and early 1900s. About a year ago they updated it and dozens of books are now "prohibited", and if you had them they were removed from your app. It doesn't state why they're now prohibited. Some were antrhopology books that had nude images in them, but nudity in anthropoligy materials is protected. Other bans are even more baffling. Since I can still see a list of the banned books I had downloaded, I'll list them.
"100 New Yorkers of the 1970s" ( Max Millard),
"Abducted to Oz" (Chris Dulabone),
"Bad Medicine" (Robert Sheck),
"Booknology: The eBook (1971-2010) - Marie Lebert,
"Castes and Tribes of Southern India" - all volumes by Edgard Thurs.
"Dorothy's Mystical Adventures in Oz" - Robert J. Evans, "Franz Haydn's 104th Symphony" MIDI file (not enabled in the first place).
"FreeChildrenStories.com Collection" - Daniel Errica,
"Identity" Zoe Blade,
"In het Gerwoud bij de Kannibalen op de Niewwe Hebriden De Aarde en haar Volken" (1918 & 1917) - Felix Speiser,
"Java: Fact and Fancies" - Augusta de Wit, "Krean-English Dictionary" - Leon Kuperman,
"L'ait roman dans le Sud Manchi Album" - Marie Lebert,
"Le droid de Lire" - Richard Stallman,
"Less Than Human" - Zoe Blade,
"Moral Deliberations in Modern Cinema" - Samuel Vaknin,
"Mr. Honey's Beginner Dictionary (English-German)" - Winfried Honig,
"Narcissistic and Psychopathic Leaders" - Samuel Vaknin,
"Physiology: The Science of the Body" - Ernest G Martin,
"Printcrime" - Cory Doctorow, "Project Gutenberg (1971-2009) - Marie Lebert,
"Return to Pleasure Island" - Cory Doctorow,
"Romanesque Art in Southern Manch Album" - Marie Lebert,
"Sequentia Problem Solving" - Fredric B Lozo,
"Sexuale Zeden in Woard en Beeld Lief de en Zinnelijhe" - D. Ph van Vloten Elderick,
"Symphony No. 5 in C Minor Opus 67" - - Beethoven
"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" - Shakespeare
"The Forest Monster of Oz" - Robert J Evans,
"The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary" - Naoh Webster
"The Mootooth" - Christopher Leadem,
"The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind" - James Boyle,
"Wake (first 25 words)" - Robert J Sawyer
"Watch (First 25k) words" - Robert J Sawyer,
"White Shadows in the South Seas" - Frederick O'Brien
Another thing with the Project Gutenberg library is many books that are supposed to have images don't. (you can still see list of images in the table of contents or 'click here to view full size' links), and the books that do have images don't have full size images, only low resolution thumbnails.
There's a podcast app with about a dozen podcasts all from NPR, ESPN, or BBC, $2 per month subscriptions, $8/month music app. About 3 dozen games, mostly incredible shallow mobile games priced at $3. Two of the recent new games, "Arch Knight" and "Budding Hero", were released with major bugs rendering them unplayable past a certain point. The "Andor's Trail" ahd 2 quests removed for "penological interests", which makes no real sense. In one you drug a jail guard and in the other you clear a prison taken over by demonic monsters and zombies. The game takes place in a medieval fantasy land. Keep in mind this is the same game where you play a child who joins a thieves guild, you steal and rob a number of people, you either extort or kidnap a woman for random, you could choose to murder several people, and various other 'evil' acts. But somehow roofying a guard to help a petty thief escape is too much. There's a movie app, all tame PG-13 content, and they recently increased the price of "blockbusters" to $4. The pricing seems arbitrary. There are 10 year old flops priced at $4, but recent winners and nominees at $3. Also the rentals only last 48 hours and have a play time limit so you can't watch it more than once all the way through.
There's a Corrlinks messaging app and an FM radio app, clock and calculator. There's no legal resources unlike many states, and there's no way to save text. The messaging app doesn't have a draft function and they've eliminated all exploits inmates use to save large amounts of text.
The tablet vendor contract is up soon and everyone (Including DOC staff) is fairly sure Access will lose the contract in 2024. It's likely why they've switched music from a purchase model to subscription (lawsuits in other states keep upholding tablet vendors must reimburse inmates for songs/games they've bought while the vendor loses the contract), have stopped adding 2-3 games every quarter, and jacked up the movie rental prices. They know they're going to lose the contract too and are trying to squeeze all the non-refundable money out of us as possible." - Has your outgoing mail ever been censored?
- If you are a writer or artist, have restrictions on outgoing mail ever made it difficult to publish or self-publish your writing or creative works?
- Lastly, is there anything you think we on the outside or the general public need to know about censorship, reading, books, education, or your life inside? Feel free to write as much as you want. We will read and value every word.