CARNAL NATION

The US has, by a rather significant margin, the highest incarceration rate in the world.  Over two million Americans, almost a full percent of the population, are currently behind bars.  And Texas, like much of the south, has a really disproportionately high number of prisoners.

And a large chunk of those prisons are run by private corporations.  Private corporations who don't see the need for things like prison libraries (where inmates could read about things like law or how to get a job.)  That's why there are prison book programs around the country.  For security reasons, books sent to prisons must come from bookstores or publishers, and independent bookstores around the country take part in programs to mail much-needed books to prisoners.  (If you're interested in donating books or helping out, there's probably a prison book program somewhere in your city.)

But the task of getting books to prisoners isn't the only problem.  Getting them past censors in the prison mailroom is something else entirely.  The Austin American-Statesman did some research and found over five thousand titles that have been rejected and appealed over the past five years.  (There's no count on how many weren't appealed.)

Books can be banned for all kinds of reasons.  Books about HVAC repair were banned for posing a security threat.  Books including maps of Texas were banned for potentially helping inmates escape.  Books about racial tension are not allowed.  And books about drugs are banned (meaning that a book called How To Get Off Drugs was also withheld from a prisoner.)  And it's not necessarily political:  both Jon Stewart and Jenna Bush saw their books banned by the prison system.

Here's how it works:  Someone in the mailroom flips through each book and decides whether or not it's okay.  If it's not, they hold it.  Prisoners have the right to appeal, and in that case the book gets passed to a six-member board who review the title for appropriateness.  If the ban is upheld, the book stays on the banned list.  If the decision is reversed--as slave memoir The Narrative Of Sojourner Truth was after a mailroom worker considered it inappropriate--then the prisoner is allowed to get the book.

Books dealing with rape or incest are forbidden--Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Sapphire's Push were both banned.  Depictions of female breasts are also banned, even if only in illustrated form.  For that reason, books on subjects as widely varied as vintage airplane nose art, massage, and restaurant menus have been banned, as have been many issues of National Geographic.

Naked children are also expressly forbidden, which is why the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has banned art books by Rembrandt and Caravaggio, as well as The Sistine Chapel Coloring Book.  (They will make an exception if the child has "clearly visible wings.")  But a TDCJ representative says that "if he is naked, the Baby Jesus would be denied."

Since many prisoners struggle with literacy, withholding books from them will prevent many of them from finding jobs on their release and this cycle could lead to reincarceration.  That's great news for the few private companies that own most of Texas prisons, but it's bad news for taxpayers and worse news for those caught in the endless cycle of the prison system.