Poll: Should Prison Libraries Remove Religious Books?

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Poll: Should Prison Libraries Remove Religious Books?

According to this recent article in The New York Times, a quiet campaign is underway across our nation to purge religious books from the shelves of federal prison libraries. The Times reports, “The chaplains were directed by the Bureau of Prisons to clear the shelves of any books, tapes, CDs and videos that are not on a list of approved resources. In some prisons, the chaplains have recently dismantled libraries that had thousands of texts collected over decades, bought by the prisons, or donated by churches and religious groups.” The Bureau of Prisons claims to be following the recommendations of a report issued in 2004 from the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department. The purging of religious materials is one of the recommended steps aimed at preventing the recruitment of Islamic militants and other religious extremists from within our nation’s federal prisons.
The project, known as the Standardized Chapel Library Project calls for blocking access to materials that could “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.” The mysterious list of approved books, created by an unidentified group of “experts” at the bureau, includes 150 books and 150 multimedia titles for each of the 20 religious groups on the list. In some cases, as the unapproved materials are removed from prisons, the libraries are left with nearly empty shelves.
Prisoners and chaplains are incensed at this violation of religious freedoms. Some inmates are responding with a lawsuit against the bureau. Mark Earley, the president of the Christian ministry, Prison Fellowship told The Times, “There’s no need to get rid of literally hundreds of thousands of books that are fine simply because you have a problem with an isolated book or piece of literature that presents extremism.”
Apparently the list will be expanded to include more faith groups and will be updated periodically. But is it right for the government to limit prisoners to only 150 reading selections from within their belief system? Critics of the project say the lists are biased. For example, The Times reports that 80 of the titles under Judaism are from the same Orthodox publishing house, and the works under “Other Christian” faiths “show a bias toward evangelical popularism and Calvinism.”
What I don’t understand is why they didn’t simply create a much shorter list of banned books? Not that this is a better solution, but wouldn’t it have been a little easier? Or perhaps this option doesn’t give them enough control over the minds of prisoners?
So, what do you think? Should prisoners be restricted in their reading choices to help prevent religious radicalism? Or is this just another example of good intentions that translated into a really bad “solution?”
Poll: Should Prison Libraries Remove Religious Books?
Wednesday September 12, 2007 | [comments (1)](javascript:zpu(519,‘http://christianity.wpadmin.about.com/?comments_popup=257459’,400,550))
 
jblair said:
What I don’t understand is why they didn’t simply create a much shorter list of banned books?
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The problem with this approach is that although you banned the previous 18 video messages by Bin Laden, the one he releases next week is presumed acceptable.

Also, I’d suggest that you may be in error about the shortness of the list of banned books. I think for certain religions, they could find far more than 150 objectionable books. Scouring the earth ahead of time to find every last obscure book that deserves to be banned is much less efficient than simply banning all books other than the approved list.
 
The Baby and the Bathwater: Removing Religious Books from Prison

*This commentary was delivered by PFM President Mark Earley on *9/20/2007
**

Six years ago, we all watched in horror as the Twin Towers crumbled to the ground, the result of men filled with hate because of their extremist Islamic beliefs.
Because of concern that such extremist beliefs may be taking root in our prisons, several members of Congress asked the Inspector General of the Department of Justice to investigate the process used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to hire Islamic chaplains. What the Inspector General (IG) found was troubling. The Bureau of Prisons had employed imams recommended by two Islamic groups without checking with the FBI about their connections to radical groups. Further, once hired, there was little knowledge of what they were preaching and doing. As the IG reported, “ample opportunity exists for them to deliver inappropriate and extremist messages.”
As an aside, the IG’s report also suggested that materials in prison chapel libraries be reviewed in case extremist literature advocating hate and violence had been brought in. They also suggested that after chaplains reviewed materials, the Bureau of Prisons develop a central list to avoid duplication. That made perfect sense. None of us wants literature that preaches hate and violence in our prisons.
However, in a baffling overreaction to the IG’s report, the Bureau of Prisons has ordered that all religious materials be removed from chapel libraries, unless they are on a list of 150 books—you guessed it—prepared by the Bureau of Prisons for each religion. Many great books are not included—for example, Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers; Jesus: The Man Who Lives by Malcolm Muggeridge; and Crossing the Threshold of Hope by Pope John Paul II. Plus, only one of the seven books of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis made it on the list. This demonstrates the problems with the government preparing any list of “approved” books. Rather than reviewing the items in chapel libraries and removing materials found to advocate hate and violence while keeping materials that encourage prisoners to grow in their faith and become productive members of society, the Bureau of Prisons is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Meanwhile, thousands of Christian prisoners seeking to practice or enrich their faith are going to be limited to only a few select titles. And even if they include the best books in the Christian canon, many chapel libraries do not have the ones on the list and are not receiving any money to purchase them.
There has got to be a better way to fight extremism inside prisons than by swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. Prison Fellowship is continuing to work with the Bureau of Prisons to modify its policy so that prison libraries can keep all edifying material while getting rid of extremist literature.

Further reading and information can be found at breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=7084&zbrandid=420&zidType=CH&zid=1822395&zsubscriberId=106217096
 
jblair said:
** . . .** What I don’t understand is why they didn’t simply create a much shorter list of banned books? Not that this is a better solution, but wouldn’t it have been a little easier? Or perhaps this option doesn’t give them enough control over the minds of prisoners? . . .)
Click to expand...
I think the problem is that they want to eliminate books advocating/teaching terrorism. If they ban only those they will be accused of discriminating against Islam.
 
**Prison Library Religious Books previously banned are to be returned.

** September 28, 2007 1:31PM
Bureau of Prisons Re-shelves Religion Books
Now prisoners can find out Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Sarah Pulliam
The federal Bureau of Prisons will return religious materials that were removed from prison chapel libraries to prevent religious extremism, according to the Associated Press.
The purged books that were removed included Christian discipleship materials (see CT’s first story).
The material removed since June will be returned to prison chapel libraries unless it is found to be radicalizing or inciting violence. By June 2008, “what comes off the shelves will be a very, very small number, because the vast majority of material will be on the ‘that’s OK list,’” bureau spokeswoman Judi Simon Garrett told the AP.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., still expresses concern: “There’s probably a limited universe of materials that incite violence, and I understand that perhaps those need to be banned,” said Hensarling. “Instead, what the Bureau of Prisons appears to be doing is really censoring religious texts, deciding what is acceptable.”
storyThe New York Times’ says that previously, the bureau was not reconsidering the library policy, but it reversed its decision after receiving widespread criticism from lawmakers and religious groups. But critics of the bureau’s program said it appeared that the bureau had bowed to widespread outrage. “Certainly putting the books back on the shelves is a major victory, and it shows the outcry from all over the country was heard,” said Moses Silverman, a lawyer for three prisoners who are suing the bureau over the program.
Prison Fellowship President Mark Early told the AP: “It took years for chaplains, local churches and other religious organizations to build up the holdings of many prison chapel libraries. Prisoners need access to more material to promote rehabilitation, not less. We want to monitor the process.”
Posted by spulliam on September 28, 2007 1:31PM
 
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