Wisconsin Books to Prisoners says a Department of Corrections policy barring used books hinders the nonprofit as it tries to fulfill its mission. (Getty Images)

Wisconsin’s prison system and a nonprofit that sends books to prisoners are at an impasse over second-hand books. 

Citing concern about people impersonating Wisconsin Books to Prisoners (WBTP) to send drugs into prisons, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has told the nonprofit’s organizers they cannot send used books to prisoners. 

The DOC has shared reports describing incidents in which books allegedly from the nonprofit tested positive for drugs. In interviews with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WBTP co-founder Camy Matthay and Prison Banned Books Week founder Moira Marquis questioned whether the limit on book access will be effective in mitigating drug smuggling.

“Our current policy balances the interest in promoting reading and education with the need to prevent drugs from entering our prisons,” the DOC said in an email to reporters this week. “We strike that balance by allowing new books to be shipped to persons in our care, but prohibiting the shipment of used books.” 

The department told reporters how many drug-related contraband incidents involved drugs on paper from 2019 to mid-September of this year. The department also faces the challenge of staff attempting to bring contraband into the prison system.

The DOC’s email highlighted two prison libraries, including a library with more than 11,000 books at Racine Correctional Institution. Each facility has a library, according to the department.

The DOC’s policy on used books applies to anyone, but Matthay told the Examiner it hobbles their project. WBTP has tried to work out an arrangement with the DOC that allows them to send used books. 

“So, our inventory would be pretty much reduced to donations from publishers of books, and that happens now and then,” Matthay said. “And donations from authors of books they’ve published. And that happens occasionally too.”

Matthay has said reading makes prisons safer. And a large proportion of the books underscore that they are trying their best to prepare to be productive in society, she said in an email to the DOC. These books include topics such as how to start a business or nonprofit.

WBTP can purchase new books for incarcerated people that are shipped directly from the vendor with a receipt, the DOC said. The nonprofit has purchased books including collegiate dictionaries, a book teaching formerly incarcerated people about starting a business and a litigation handbook for prisoners. 

“The litigation handbook that we send is extremely expensive,” Matthay said. “I think it’s 70-plus dollars per copy. We can afford to buy really a few of those. They’re really frequently requested.”

According to DOC communications director Beth Hardtke, from 2019 until mid-September of this year, close to a quarter of drug-related contraband incidents involved drugs on paper: 214 out of 881. The department did not give details about the other incidents. 

Not all incident reports that staff flag as drug-related turn out to actually be so, the DOC said, and the department’s numbers may not reflect some drug-related incidents recorded through a medical record or conduct report. 

Of the 214 drug-related contraband incident reports recorded through Sept. 18, according to the DOC, at least 28 times, outside medical personnel had to be called to transport incarcerated people to a hospital or treat them for suspected overdoses or intoxication. This doesn’t include the number of people treated in the DOC’s Health Services Units. 

The DOC said that in September, two staff members had to seek treatment from hospitals after being exposed to substances in department facilities.

In testimony at the Capitol in early July, the advocacy group Ladies of SCI said correctional officers are also a source of drugs. A former facilities repair worker of Waupun Correctional Institution has pleaded guilty to smuggling contraband, the Appleton Post-Crescent reported in September. The items he smuggled included cell phones, tobacco products and controlled substances.

The Examiner reviewed a document that Rebecca Aubart of the Ladies of SCI received from the DOC from a public records request. It shows that 24 correctional officers or sergeants brought contraband into correctional facilities between June 1, 2019 and June 20, 2024. Hardtke said two-thirds of those cases did not involve drugs. 

The DOC email said incidents this year included three shipments allegedly from WBTP where multiple items tested positive for drugs. The email included incident reports for two incidents and said the third report would be released when a redacted version is available. 

On each report, a department official has written a comment that attempting to keep “illicit drugs and intoxicating substances (K2, suboxone, wasp spray) out of the institution is a priority.” 

This is because of the “extreme risk they pose and the extreme difficulty in identification and interception,” according to the reports. 

Both of the incident reports are dated Feb. 8, and the email said the third shipment was tested in March. The DOC said it announced in January that it could no longer accept used books from anyone. The policy is now being enforced when it comes to library donations as well as books sent to incarcerated people, the department said. 

“A significant question is: How are they making these determinations and where is the evidence, e.g., the faux receipts and packaging, etc.?” Matthay said in an email to the Examiner. 

If the DOC doesn’t allow an incarcerated person to receive a publication, state administrative code requires the department to notify the incarcerated person and the sender. Matthay said that WBTP did not receive such notifications. She expressed skepticism about the technologies prisons use to test for tainted material. 

The department said it is “often unable to say” whether mail or donations that tested positive for drugs were sent by legitimate entities or organizations or by impersonators. 

“DOC is continuing the conversation with Wisconsin Books to Prisoners in the hopes we can come to an agreement to help fulfill the reading requests of those in our care and do so safely,” the department statement said.  

According to WBTP, on Aug. 22, the nonprofit asked Cooper if the issue caused by impersonators could be resolved if WBTP provided a USPS tracking number for every package of books the group ships. Matthay said she did not hear back.

This report has been updated with additional details about DOC employees and contraband and the DOC’s prison libraries.