Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US prison) to report a convict for misconduct.

1929		C.G. Givens ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr.; list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 134: written up, v. Noted in the prison records for some violation of rules.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1954		(con. 1937) C. Chessman Cell 2455 92: Any employee could ‘write-up’ an inmate.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 87: Uh, I got to write you up, man.
2010		W.D. Myers Lockdown 107: If Mr. Wilson was mad, then me and King Kong would probably be written up.
2011		W.D. Myers Carmen 36: [of a police officer] Write him up. [...] He doesn’t deserve to be in our unit.

2. (US) to report a worker for inadequate work or a misdemeanor.

1973		(con. 1965) P. Maas Serpico 106: ‘How can you go around looking like that?’ a sergeant would say. ‘If I was the captain, I’d write your ass up’.
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 285: You gonna write me up for this?
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 107: You’ve run three wrong axles in the past hour. Goddamnit, I’m writin’ your ass up now!

3. (N.Z.) to make a criticism of, to denounce.

1953

I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 50: I suppose you’ll write up the jails, if ever you get out.