Federal Prison System Purges Religious Books

The Bureau of Prisons has overreached by purging chapel libraries to guard against radical Muslims.

September 13, 2007 edition - Christian Science Monitor 

Earlier this year, chaplains in federal prisons removed thousands of religious materials from federal prison libraries nationwide. Perhaps this government-ordered purge won't cause concern outside of prisons, because it affects only convicts, and because it's to fight terrorism. But it should. 

It matters enough for two prisoners at the Federal Prison Camp in Otisville, N.Y., who sued the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) over its new screening policy for religious books, tapes, CDs, and videos. The inmates, an Orthodox Jew and a Protestant Christian, claim the policy violates their religious rights and legal access to information. 

While the class-action suit will further help define prisoner religious rights, it may also test judicial commitment to religious liberty in the war on Islamic terror. 

The issue is not whether prison literature is censored, but the degree to which it is. US law and the Constitution allow government to restrict religious freedom in prisons as long as it has a compelling interest and uses the "least restrictive means" to pursue its interest. Making sure prisons don't become recruiting grounds for terrorists certainly is a compelling interest. 

But the BOP has overreached.

Before this summer, screening was done by BOP chaplains. They culled material sent to the libraries and pulled mostly hate literature – a lot of it white supremacist citing a Christian basis – that could endanger prison security. 

The new policy instead uses religious experts to select a list of approved materials. The list is long, allowing up to 450 titles for each of 20 religions or religious groupings, and will be periodically updated. But many titles that the BOP admits "may be very worthwhile" aren't on the list and were removed from chapel libraries. 

In the Otisville prison, according to the suit, hundreds of books were taken from shelves, including such "fundamental" works as Maimonides' Code of Jewish Law, as well as the Christian bestseller, "The Purpose-Driven Life." The Muslim collection, small to begin with, amounts to the Koran and two other titles. 

The BOP's move stems from a 2004 Department of Justice inspector general review of religious services for Muslims in federal prisons. One recommendation was to take an inventory and re-screen chapel libraries. It also said the BOP should consider a central registry of appropriate titles to avoid duplicating review efforts. 

But the BOP never conducted the inventory. A BOP spokeswoman says the list is the "most effective" way for selecting material that is "consistently available," provides "religiously reliable teachings," and does not discriminate or promote violence or radicalization. 

This goes far beyond withholding obviously inappropriate materials for security reasons, as done by the chaplains, and instead defines what is religiously appropriate – a disturbing development, even in a prison context. As Gary Friedman, spokesman for the American Correctional Chaplains Association says: "Radicalization is in the mind of the beholder." Many Jews consider the New Testament hateful to them. 

Religion plays a vital rehabilitative role for prisoners. The BOP has taken many other steps to better guard against Muslim violence, and could do more. 

But it needn't take this one.

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Miss. prison complying with new federal policy on prison books

By SHELIA BYRD - Associated Press Writer - Sept. 12, 2007

JACKSON, Miss. --Religious books and materials once available to inmates at Mississippi's federal prison have been removed from the facility's library as part of a new national policy officials say is designed, in part, to thwart acts of violence or terrorism.

The Bureau of Prisons has directed prison chaplains across the country to remove any religious books or other resources that are not on reading lists recently approved by the agency.

The Yazoo City Federal Corrections Complex is complying with the policy, said Charlie Smith, public information officer for the prison.

"Any policy that's put out by the central office, we're going to follow it," Smith said.

For about 20 religious categories, the Bureau of Prisons has approved lists of up to 150 book titles and 150 multimedia resources, said Traci Billingsley, agency spokeswoman. All other religious books will be purged from the library.

The policy was instituted in January and libraries have until the end of September to be standardized and fully operational, Billingsley said.

"We want to make sure the materials do not discriminate, do not disparage, that they do not advocate violence or radicalize," Billingsley said. "We want to ensure the religious resource material is consistently available for all religious groups and provides religiously reliable teaching as determined by religious subject matter experts within the agency."

The policy was in response to a 2004 report by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General, which recommended ways prisons could avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant religious groups.

The policy has drawn protests from some inmates and is being challenged in court in New York. It is unclear how inmates in the Mississippi facility are reacting to the policy as Smith would not comment on that question.

David Fathi of the ACLU's National Prison Project has criticized the systematic purging of the books, saying many of the books have been read for years by prisoners without posing a negative threat.

"This is a sweeping act of censorship that is more worthy of a totalitarian regime than the United States of America," said Fathi, staff counsel for Washington-based project.

The Bureau of Prisons did not publicize the new policy or release copies of the approved book lists, Fathi said.

Among the faith groups on the lists are Christian, Islam, Buddhism, Hindu and Jehovah's Witness, Billingsley said. The bureau experts who chose the list selections worked with religious scholars from across the country, she said.

The reading lists will be updated with additions a minimum of once a year, Billingsley said.

Father Sebastian Schalk visits the Yazoo City prison each Saturday to minister to inmates. Schalk doesn't believe the new policy will affect his ministry much because he doesn't rely on the prison library for resources.

"There isn't much in the way of Catholic literature there, except Bibles," Schalk said. "Life for inmates can be extremely boring, especially those that are in the special housing unit where they're locked down most of the time. They like to read anything they get their hands on. There's that factor."