Join the Fight against Injustice in Prisons

Support Our Mission

MIM(Prison)'s primary purpose is serving the oppressed in prisons within the United $tates, while working from the vantage point of the Third World proletariat. We recognize that imperialism is the number one enemy of the majority of the world's people, and we are fighting from within the belly of the beast in the advanced stage of imperialism, where the majority of the people living within U.$. borders have been bought off with the spoils of capitalist profits.

What Kind of Help Does MIM(Prisons) Need?

The most helpful thing is dedicated, consistent support. Whether daily, weekly or monthly; whether the tasks you can do are easy or difficult; we challenge you to make a pledge to become a regular contributor to our work. In 2020 we launched an online platform to streamline ways for our supporters to plugin to our work. To become a regular contributor online, please follow the following steps:

1. Install Tor Browser
2. Use it to setup an anonymous email account
3. Create a GPG key pair
4. Email us from your anonymous email, with your public GPG key.

If you are not able to commit some regular practice and are looking for ways to contribute in one act, then send us a donation or see our list of specific tasks below.

Donations Needed

Every penny received goes right back into our work. The vast majority of our expenses are paid out of our own pockets. Our budget is mostly printing and postage costs to send literature to prisoners. Money may also go to support prisoners recently released from prison and other infrastructural expenses.

Here is a list of ways to donate in order of preference:

1. cash: U.S. dollars are by far the easiest thing for us to use. Some have expressed concern about mailing cash. But it is really no more risky than mailing stamps, or blank money orders. Internationally there may be more risk. Do make sure you can't see the money through the envelope.
2. cryptocurrency: This is the most secure way to donate. Using Bitcoin or Monero will ensure your money reaches us. Using Monero will ensure that no one knows you donated to us. Fees involved should be similar to sending a money order, but a little harder to get started for the newbie.
3. stamps: This is how most prisoners donate. We use lots of stamps. We are most often out of additional ounce stamps (in 2022 these are $0.24), after that we mostly use First Class Forever stamps. You can buy at the post office and mail them to us yourself, or you can order online and have them shipped to our address.
4. blank money orders, gift cards: As mentioned above, there is little benefit to these over cash, and they are more of a pain to use. But if it makes you feel better than sending cash, we'll make use of them. Generic gift cards are obviously best. Office Depot/Staples gift cards would be our second choice.
5. books: This is the least efficient way to contribute materially. But if you have access to book sales, used book stores with cheap dictionaries, MLM and national liberation/anti-imperialist lit, pick some up and mail them to us media mail to save money.

Send donations to:

MIM(Prisons)
PO BOX 40799
San Francisco, CA 94140

Specific Tasks We Need Help With

• Got legal skills? Help out with writing letters to appeal censorship of MIM Distributors by prison staff.
• Got a keyboard? Help type articles, letters and study group discussions from prisoners.

Campaigns

Visit our Campaigns Page and find out what the latest struggles are behind bars. There you will find information and materials on how you can contribute by writing letters, joining a petition or postcard campaign, distributing literature, posting fliers, and more.

Get fliers and petitions

Spread the Word

• Download & print Under Lock & Key and distribute it locally (newer issues won't print on 8.5"x11" paper, but you get in touch to buy some from us)
• Distribute Unlock the Box DVDs
• Hold public events - screen Unlock the Box, invite speakers, write campaign letters, gather book and money donations at the door, etc.
• Link to campaigns and other agitational pages on our site

Serve the People

While we can win battles via reformist-oriented campaigns, the oppressed need to be self-determined in order to break free from the injustice of this system. Following in the footsteps of the Chinese Communists and the Black Panthers, MIM(Prisons) has instituted a number of Serve the People Programs that have the purpose of providing the oppressed with what they need to better fight.

Free Political Books to Prisoners

Help prisoners educate themselves in politics, law, history, etc. Send anonymous money orders and stamps to MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799, San Francisco, CA 94140. Before sending donations of books, get in touch and let us know what you have.

University of Maoist Thought

All the literature we send in has a much greater effect when read as part of organized study groups with other serious students. There is lots of work to do administering our correspondence courses and transcribing prisoners' answers.

Prisoner Re-Lease on Life

After release from prison too many comrades fall into the traps that land them right back into prison. We are working to build relationships with services that help released prisoners adjust to life on the outside and better contribute to the community. We also provide car packages, regular contact and self-help guides to our comrades who are relased.

Censorship

Lawyers

Any legal savvy people can contribute greatly to our struggle against censorship. Most likely we have a battle near you that you can take on. We've got the documentation. Also check the campaigns page for battles we are actively pursuing you might help with.

Letter Writing

Anyone can write letters to prison administrators. Check our campaigns page for active battles you can support. You can also find more examples of censorship and letters others have sent in our censorship archive. Please send us a copy of your letters.

Report Censorship

Have you been censored by U.S. prison staff? Report your own experiences to help contribute to the Censorship in Amerika Documentation Project.

Research

Control Unit Stats

Update information being gathered in our nationwide survey of control units in the united $tates. see: https://www.abolishcontrolunits.org/research

Under Lock & Key Topics

Help research, write material or create art for Under Lock & Key.

Okay, I Get It! There's Lots I Can Do to Help

How do I communicate with MIM(Prisons)?

Our Contact page has info on how to contact us via email, post office box, or reddit messaging.

I'm Already A Maoist, How Can I Work with MIM(Prisons)?

Well, besides all the things above... We think there are many priorities for the MIM to be taking on right now that do not fall within the scope of work we've laid out for the MIM(Prisons) cell, which is focused on organizing prisoners. Whether cells are location or issue-based, we should watch each others' work and develop relationships based on the commonalities in our work. MIM(Prisons) will not communicate with other cells online over unencrypted channels.

To date, one thing we've consistently looked for in terms of support from other cells is study materials to distribute to our readers. For Under Lock & Key we are always working to ensure that we keep an internationalist perspective with Maoist analysis of global events. Clear, concise analysis of and agitation against U.$. imperialism is a good way for a cell to do it's own thing while supporting MIM(Prisons)'s work.