Each year, the Banned Books Week Coalition assembles in order to denounce censorship and to bring attention to titles that have been frequently barred from the shelves of various institutions across the country. While some organizations, like public schools and libraries, have processes in place by which you can challenge and potentially overturn banned book rulings, in correctional facilities, this proves to be a far more difficult endeavor.
According to an article published by the York Daily Record in 2019 “there is no one-size-fits-all ruling for acceptance” when it comes to what publications in a correctional facilities. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ policy outlines 4 criteria by which incoming publications will be judged: general rules for prohibited content, whether the piece includes content that could potentially pose a threat to internal security, whether the piece contains obscene or sexually explicit material, and–in the case of sacred or religious texts–whether the piece advocates for violence against a specific demographic of people or promotes the idea of superiority of one group of people over another.
Though this policy is specific, criteria for acceptable material is still somewhat dependent upon who is responsible for reviewing the literature that comes in, and can thus vary based on a person’s individual bias. As per Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections’ policy on inmate mail and incoming publications, all published material that is sent to inmates in Pennsylvania prisons will be subject to the review of the Incoming Publications Review Committee (IPRC), which “must include at least three facility personnel…to review incoming publications and photos that may contain prohibited content.” The IPRC must be comprised of “One member from the Education Department (Librarian, Teacher, or School Principal), one member from the facility Security Office, and the Mailroom Supervisor).” This policy does not state if or when the members of the committee are subject to change.
Once a publication has been reviewed, whether it is permitted or denied, it is placed on the Department’s Reviewed Publications List. If something that has previously been reviewed is requested, it is not subject to another review, but instead “shall be permitted, denied, or otherwise treated as set forth in the Department’s Reviewed Publications List.” While this policy is likely to ensure that members of the IPRC have ample time to review all new incoming requests, it affords no opportunity by which the decision to deny a publication can be overturned. In the eyes of the IPRC, banned books stay banned.
For a brief moment in 2018, books in Pennsylvania prisons were banned entirely in an attempt to curb drug smuggling into prisons, specifically paper that had been soaked in synthetic cannabinoids, commonly known as K2. In response to widespread criticisms from inmates’ rights groups and book donors, however, Governor Tom Wolf quickly amended the decision, allowing for “book orders to resume through a new centralized processing center” located in Bellefonte, PA, “where staff will screen books five days per week,” according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. While this revision in policy is a win in many cases, it still leaves some skeptical about inmates’ access to literature. Common criticisms include a very limited catalogue of available material as well as lengthy processing times.
One possible way to circumnavigate physical processing centers is through electronic books. In 2019, Dauphin County Prison began distributing electronic tablets to inmates for “a wide range of benefits,” including “access to music, movies, and educational materials,” said Dauphin County’s corrections director, Brian Clark, who also stated that the introduction of the devices would lead to “a reduction in violence and cost savings.” While these tablets give inmates an opportunity to connect with friends and family members “through a secure messaging application,” thus “eliminating the need to send letters, which can become costly due to postage,” they do not necessarily afford equal access to printed material across the board.
These tablets are supplied to Dauphin County Prison through a contract with prison telecommunications company GTL, which charges each inmate “$147 plus tax” for a device, according to investigative reporter Hanna Kozlowska.Further, while inmates have access to GTL’s database of approximately 8,500 eBooks, the cost of these titles ranges from $2.99 to $24.99, and the selection of books being offered is “Heavily weighted toward books that are readily available for free, that nobody wants anyway,” says Philadelphia Books Through Bars member, Keir Neuringer Many of the titles on lists of most-read books in prisonsare not available through the GTL database, including The Autobiography of Malcom X, andDiary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Further, the prices of some titles are marked far higher through GTL than they are on Amazon. “For instance,” writes Samantha Melamed for The Philadelphia Inquirer, “The Green Milecosts 66 percent more on prison tablets than out in the free world.”
In 2019, The Library received a generous anonymous donation for the purpose of supporting the literacy of the inmates being held at Dauphin County Prison. According to Lori Milach, Public Services Director at DCLS, “it quickly became apparent that we could use the funds to give the residents [at Dauphin County Prison] access to eBooks.” While the initiative received overwhelming support, says Lori, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to concerns that “required the library to temporarily halt their efforts” as Dauphin County Prison manages their efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus within their facilities. Despite this setback, Library staff members are working diligently to brainstorm ways to help make reading materials more easily accessible to inmates in the future.