Prisons Disproportionately Ban Books on Race and Civil Rights, PEN America Report Finds

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A new PENamerica report highlights the racially discriminatory book-banning practices of U.S. prisons:

against increasing restrictions on texts allowed within the prison system. PEN America’s report highlights not only the sheer magnitude of the issue?—over two million Americans are currently incarcerated and thus subject to regulation around their reading material?—but also the disorganized and discriminatory nature of the book-banning process.

It is clear, however, that prison officials disproportionately ban civil rights literature and texts that analyze and critique the U.S. criminal justice system. Michelle Alexander’s, which discusses racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, was banned in Florida, Michigan, New Jersey andwas banned in Arizona as of May 2019.

Such arbitrary policies may contribute to a sense of alienation among incarcerated people, who receive the message that critical information is being deliberately kept from them. The quote from one formerly incarcerated person in Michigan, who orderedonly to find that the prison’s mailroom staff had prevented him from receiving the book due to its “racial content,” is illustrative: “I feel like the reason why they tried to reject it is because they didn’t want me to have that kind of knowledge.

 

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