Author of PEN America report on prison book ban speaking at UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The largest and most sweeping book ban in the United States isn’t in one of the country’s public school districts or library systems, but in prisons across the country.

James Tager, author of “Literature Locked Up: How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation’s Largest Book Ban,” a PEN America report, will give a presentation about censorship practices in jails and prisons at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in 305 Silverman Library on the UB North Campus.

Tager is a founding member of the Coalition for Carceral Access to Literature and Learning, an organization dedicated to fighting censorship affecting incarcerated people. He has written or co-written over a dozen PEN America reports on issues related to free expression, literature, civil rights and human rights.

The event is sponsored by The Freedom to Read Foundation, UB Libraries, UB’s Prison Studies Certificate, and the UB College in Prison Program. The presentation is free and  open to the public.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the departments of corrections in all 50 states and the District of Columbia censor literature, according to Mary Nell Trautner, associate professor of sociology and criminology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, who adds that it is the most pervasive form of censorship in the country.

The nation’s criminal justice system, in fact, bans more books than all public schools and libraries combined, says Trautner, who is also director of UB’s College in Prison Program, one of a dozen such SUNY programs offering college degrees in New York State prisons.

“As prison education expands nationwide, the persistent and often arbitrary censorship of books in carceral settings threatens both the quality and equity of that education,” says Trautner. “The freedom to read is a civil liberty as well as a precondition for meaningful learning, personal growth and participation in society.”

Carolyn Klotzbach-Russell, UB social services librarian, has also curated a book display at Lockwood Library featuring many of the books that have been banned in prisons across the country, along with an online research guide with details about where the books were banned and why.

The rationale for the restrictions covers, most broadly, sexual content or content potentially affecting security. Prison officials also restrict books on race and civil rights, claiming the material would disrupt the prison’s social order. Scientific, creative and historical reading are also censored. But the bans extend beyond content, with access to books denied based on the volume’s size or the color of the mailing wrapper.

Prisons striving for content-neutral policies are increasing in number, with a steep rise over the last decade.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that prisons must have an appeals process to the censorship in place, but the ruling provided no requirement that reviewers are independent of the prison system.

“The stakes of censorship are high, and our hope is that this exhibit and presentation will underscore the urgency of defending the right to read for everyone, including those society often renders invisible,” says Trautner.