SIGN NOW: Protect the right to read in prison 

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“When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment.”

―Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (Procunier v Martinez, 1974)
Today in the U.S., the state of access to literature in prisons is getting worse and worse.

This month, Banned Books Week is our opportunity to shed light on this critical right to read where it is being thwarted most severely. As members of Congress return to Washington, DC, we call on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to convene a hearing on book restriction practices in prisons.

Read Dinaw's email below and then sign the petition today! ([link removed][UNIQID])

Thank you,

Summer Lopez
Senior Director of Free Expression Programs
PEN America
Tell Congress:

“With over 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S., and many prisons enforcing arcane book restrictions, book bans of incarcerated people represent the largest such ban in the country. We demand Congress convene immediate hearings on book banning practices in American prisons.”

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Dear Friends,

Studies show that allowing prisoners access to outside information and ideas reduces recidivism and is essential to a successful transition back into society. Then why does the largest book ban in the U.S. exist in our state and federal prisons?

In Texas, the Department of Criminal Justice has banned over 10,000 books from prisons, including books by Alice Walker, John Grisham, Jenna Bush Hager, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Bob Dole. While books from Adolf Hitler and David Duke have been allowed, books about civil rights and prison conditions are often blocked.

Prisons across the country have attempted to ban the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Public outcry has forced many prisons to reverse their decision, and yet bans on books that discuss mass incarceration continue to exist in prisons across the country.

In the past two years alone, PEN America has joined others in decrying such policies in New York ([link removed][UNIQID]) , Maryland ([link removed][UNIQID]) , Washington State ([link removed][UNIQID]) , Illinois ([link removed][UNIQID]) , and others.

Join PEN America and our allies in telling Congress to act. Sign the petition demanding Congress convene immediate hearings on book restriction practices in prisons. ([link removed][UNIQID])

The Federal prison system houses over 177,000 ([link removed][UNIQID]) incarcerated people, and it has made its own attempt to restrict book access. Last year, the Bureau of Prisons rolled out a pilot program where incarcerated people would have to pay an unexplained 30 percent markup to buy books. Thankfully, the program was rescinded after public outcry.

The federal prison system is a model for prison policy across the country. This is why we need Congress to act.

Sign the petition to both the House and the Senate Judiciary Committees to convene hearings on book banning practices in American prisons. ([link removed][UNIQID])

Banned Books Week is coming next week. Together, let’s shine much-needed light on the state of incarcerated people's access to literature.

Thank you,

Dinaw Mangestu's Signature

Dinaw Mangestu, PEN America Board Member and Author

Dinaw Mengestu
PEN America Board Member and Author

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