​Education Behind Bars: Article Six: Prisoners’ Right to Read

Chances are if you do not have a friend or family member who is incarcerated, you do not spend much time thinking about life behind bars. We trust the justice system to protect us from lawbreakers by sequestering those found guilty of serious crimes in prisons. Our expectation is that incarcerated people will learn to be better citizens while segregated from civil society. However, this expectation is not supported by data. When released, only 5 to 15 percent of incarcerated persons will manage to avoid re-imprisonment within 5 years.


In this series of articles, we have explored one significant solution to staggering recidivism: higher education in penal institutions. One of the foundations of higher education is access to books: textbooks and a broad range of fiction and nonfiction materials.
 
The relationship between books, education and self-improvement is so important the American Library Association (ALA) has developed a “Prisoners’ Right to Read: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights” which states:
 
When free people, through judicial procedure, segregate some of their own, they incur the responsibility to provide humane treatment and essential rights. Among these is the right to read and to access information. The right to choose what to read is deeply important, and the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. The denial of intellectual freedom—the right to read, to write, and to think—diminishes the human spirit of those segregated from society.

A recent op-ed piece in the New York Times on August 17, 2022, written by an incarcerated contributor, made a bold and passionate case against the current situation regarding books in prisons. Author Christopher Blackwell claims, “


Books, like everything an incarcerated person receives—personal mail, emails, photos, news and education materials—are evaluated by prison officials and rejected or shared with us. Corrections departments typically claim they ban books that contain sexual content, racial animus or depictions of violence, criminal activity, anti-authority attitudes or escape. In practice, PEN America* wrote in a 2019 report on prison book restriction policies, the restrictions “have been wide-ranging, from perverse to absurd to constitutionally troubling, with bans being applied in ways that defy logic.
 
In an earlier article in this series, we presented information about the justice system and pointed out that different rules apply to federal, state, county and individual institutions. With respect to reading materials, lack of across-the-system regulation results in incarcerated people having access dependent entirely upon institution in which they currently reside.


Incarcerated people are frequently moved from one institution to another as a means of population control. This practice may serve the system, but it is extremely disruptive for incarcerated students: what was acceptable at the previous institution may not be acceptable at the new one. In addition, because of differences in library collection development policies and practices, materials available in the new prison may well be vastly different, too.

The problem of reading materials for incarcerated people is exacerbated by lack of funding for such materials. Most recreational reading materials come from donations. State budgets allow minimal funding for legal research materials. Since each state and institution is different, there may be some states that are beginning to provide some funding for educational books, magazines, and videos. Information supporting this claim is very hard to find, but with the expansion of higher education in my prisons or penal systems, it seems likely that funding for recreational and educational materials will be part of the funding.


It is important to remember that all books, magazines, videos, etc. going into a prison must make it through the gauntlet of justice officials and appeal processes to make it to the incarcerated individual or into the library collection. In his op-ed piece, Mr. Blackwell further states:


Prisons across the country will continue arbitrarily rejecting books like “Angry White Men” ** until state and federal officials create more explicit book restriction policies that clearly define what constitutes a safety threat. Prison officials should also be required to carefully consider the rehabilitative and educational potential of each book. The process for appealing a book rejection should be easier, and successful appeals on formerly banned books should be made easily accessible to all prisoners who want to read them.
 
A great deal of research and data-collection has been done in the last 20 years regarding higher education, books, and other reading materials. The research shows that there is a link between education, books, and other reading materials and the following outcomes:

• Reduced recidivism – data show that a person released from prison who has had opportunities to participate in higher education or has actively read a variety of books, is less likely to offend and be reincarcerated. Validating this claim has been difficult because the data traditionally collected by institutions and systems focuses on demographics, criminal behaviors, funding, management, and so on. There are 4 kinds of education that get the most attention: vocational, literacy, high school diploma or GED, and English-as-a-second language (ESL). These receive public funding to a degree. Higher Education is funded almost entirely by volunteers and private donations; students seek out this form of education once they realize that it is possible in their institution.
• Improved prison environment – Prisoners who benefit from education and library access often become transformed by what they learn about themselves and the wider world. The transformation arises from the kind of self-exploration that takes place during studying, reading, learning, and applying new concepts, philosophies, and possibilities.

There are ways for ordinary citizens to donate books to prisoners or prison libraries, and to improve access to higher education. A list of organizations dedicated to placing books in prisons is listed below.


In addition, caring concerned citizens can directly contact their local, state, and federal legislators in support of laws and funding for books and higher education in prisons.


*PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.


**Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era by Michael Kimmel enabled Christopher Blackwell to “understand some of the deeply rooted structures around masculinity,” and taught him “how entitlement could lead men to hit women they claimed to love because they felt disrespected.” As a result of reading this book, Mr. Blackwell recognized his own toxic masculinity and learned how to prevent it from hurting other people. This book was rejected by the censors and later approved following a lengthy appeal. Although the book was approved for Mr. Blackwell, it remains unavailable to other prisoners.


Donate books to prisoners or prison libraries

• Books Inside - Collects, processes, and hand picks titles for used book distribution to prison libraries around the country
• Books to Prisoners - Books to Prisoners is a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that mails free books to incarcerated individuals across the United States.
• Inside Books Project - Based in Austin, TX. Most in need of dictionaries, African American Studies, graphic novels, books on the trades, test prep, games and puzzles, writing resources, etc.
• LGBT Books to Prisoners - Seeking softcover English dictionaries, almanacs,books in Spanish for native speakers, LGBTQ
  materials, contemporary fiction,or funds to help with distribution costs.
• Prison Book Program - Accepts book donations by mail, but strongly encourages considering donating books to one of its sister “books to prisoners” programs (linked on their website) that may be geographically
  closer.
• Women's Prison Book Project - Since 1994, the Women’s Prison Book Project (WPBP) has provided women and transgender persons in prison with free reading materials covering a wide range of topics from law and education (dictionaries, GED, etc.) to fiction, politics, history, and women’s health.

Improve access to higher education

• Vera Institute of Justice - The Unlocking Potential Initiative strives to expand access to high-quality postsecondary education in prison and reduce racial inequities within and beyond prison walls.

Prepared and Submitted by Cheryl Stewart,
MOTAL Board member and treasurer


Sources:

• Prisons and Legal Perspectives on Book Challenges and Bans.
  Rclawlibrary.org
• Prisoners’ Right to Read: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights.
  Ala.org
• Reading While Incarcerated Saved Me. So Why Are Prisons Banning Books.
  The New York Times
• Prison Libraries Are Much More Than a Law Library.
  Acrosswalls.org
• The Cruel Practice of Banning Books Behind Bars.
  Vera.org
• Library Services
  Cdcr.ca.gov
• Books Have the Power to Rehabilitate. But Prisons Are Blocking Access to Them. Mother Jones
• Policies Relating to Prison Libraries.
  Libguides.ala.org