Here's a book rejection that we just received from a prison in Tennessee: "Malcolm X not allowed."
This is part of an insidious pattern of targeted bans by prisons against Black authors and against literature critiquing the prison system and power structures in this country.
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Another great conversation put out today by about the ongoing issues of prison censorship.
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As one of the many calculated cruelties that define the US prison-industrial complex, the long assault on prisoners’ ability to read books while incarcerated is sinister, inhumane, and must be stopped.
therealnews.com/why-us-prisons
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Only within 14 working days. We are almost never able to meet short deadlines like this because of our volume of mail.
(Source: tn.gov/content/dam/tn)
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This is probably a good time to plug the paper on this problem that people from prison book programs & jail library programs published in 2020: "Systemic Oppression and the Contested Ground of Information Access for Incarcerated People"
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Librarians, we desperately need your help to fight censorship in jails and prisons. twitter.com/AppalachianPBP…
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Have you thought about donating e-readers to prisoners? So they can download this stuff on the down low? Would that work?
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E-readers are only available in prisons via monopoly contracts, primarily w/ Global Tel*Link (GTL) & JPay (aka Securus/Aventiv). All content is controlled by the companies. Ongoing issues with companies only allowing Project Gutenberg materials & charging lots of $$$ for content.
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The absurdity of this ban has grown. The volunteer logging this rejection informed us that the banned Malcolm X book--its cover can be seen in the middle of the stack--is the Scholastic biography. For teens. Even reading a basic outline of his life is apparently banned there.
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Pardon my ignorance but do you think there’s a chance the books could be given in person and make it through? I know some folks near there.
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Prisons tend to be very wary of individual donations. We are specially accepted as a nonprofit distributor/book store (not in many places, though), but increasingly prisons are moving to block even our groups in favor of exclusive access by paid distributors like Barnes & Noble.
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City, state or federal prison? I'm happy to amplify (and shame) the appropriate electeds.
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State system, but it appears to be managed by private prison operator CoreCivic.
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