This article from the New York Times tells of the latest developments in an ongoing story of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' attempt to limit religious books in prison chaplains' libraries to only titles on a specific list. The policy change was put into place because prison administrators were concerned about radical religious material in prison inciting violence and terrorism. The switch came under fire of religious scholars and other groups because of the limited nature of the lists and the fact that it would completely gut a number of prison libraries. Many chaplains noted that they were familiar with the content in their libraries and themselves ensured that there was no inappropriate content in the books.
This story is a good example of what we deal with on a weekly basis at pages. Our packages are often returned for seemingly arbitrary reasons and we hear story after story of just how hard it is to get access to reading materials of all sorts in Prison. While the role of religion in our culture and the perception that religious faith is strongly tied to rehabilitation may have created the broad support for the overturning of the Federal Bureau of Prison's policies, it is a small bit of hope within a continuing struggle to provide people in prison with empowering literary resources to aid in not just their spiritual pursuits but educational, rehabilitative, and entertaining ones as well.
