Prisons Criticized for List of Acceptable Religious Books
Religious groups express outrage at the federal Bureau of Prisons for removing tens of thousands of religious books from prison chapel libraries. The bureau based this decision on a 2004 Department of Justice report that said certain religious material could encourage violence.
But the pressure from religious groups, civil libertarians and members of Congress has made the bureau rethink the lists of acceptable material and restore the books to prison libraries’ shelves. The bureau said they will continue to review all materials in chapel libraries and only weed out publications that could be radicalizing or incite violence. But in the mean time, all books will remain in the prisons.
“This is a positive step: it means they are not throwing the baby out with the bath water,” said Bob Moore, director of prison policy oversight for an advocacy group for Jews in prison. “But our position is there should not be a list of what should be on the shelves, but what shouldn’t be.”
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Columbia Law: Experts Discuss Prison Chapel Library Controversy
