Next week is the third annual Prison Banned Books Week. In preparation, let’s take a look at the necessity to address this rampant book censorship and curtailing of First Amendment rights in prisons, as well as why those engaged in the fight against banned books in public libraries and schools need to also address the issue in prisons.

U.S. prisons remain the institutions where the most censorship occurs. This has not changed, even as school and public library book challenges have skyrocketed in numbers since 2021. Censorship thrives in prisons for several reasons, including the fact that the private, for-profit industry doesn’t need to care about the rights of those housed within them. It also thrives because the general public does not understand how bad the conditions are for those experiencing incarceration, does not understand how the prison industrial complex operates, and, frankly, the general public does not understand why they should care about those who are in prison.

This differs from schools and public libraries, which have generally positive perceptions in the public eye. Moreover, those who use schools and public libraries are those who are, by public perception, law-abiding citizens (and in schools, the perception is further bolstered by the fact these are children).

Recidivism goes down when individuals experiencing incarceration have access to books, but prisons limit access by not having libraries or only having old and out-of-date materials in those libraries; putting extreme limits on where and how books can be sent to those inside the facility; allowing mailroom employees to pick and choose what they determine to be “appropriate”; or a combination of these or other factors. If access to books decreases recidivism, then why would prisons limit it so much?

The answer is profit.

Over the last four+ years, as censorship and book bans have increased in public institutions, the need to tackle prison censorship has not ended. If anything, those working to change this system and get books inside prisons are being heard even less than they were prior to the start of the pandemic. Access to digital books and the technology to use them remained behind paywalls for too many who are incarcerated, further choking the rights of those in a time when the world outside–and, indeed, inside–was completely upended. Books continued to be banned or removed, and libraries continued to either not exist or fell into further disarray, thanks to “budget” and “safety” concerns.

Despite the fact there continues to be a divide between the work being done to ensure access to books and libraries remains uninhibited for school and public library users and those experiencing incarceration, the two movements are not in opposition. If anything, positive steps forward to ensure that books cannot be banned in school and public libraries (including state-level anti-book ban laws currently in all these states, plus Delaware) are an opportunity to encourage those involved in this fight to not only stay engaged but to build knowledge of and create action around prison censorship. As of now, only California has passed a prison-specific anti-book ban law since this legislation began to grow, and its effectiveness, like with other anti-book ban laws, remains to be seen without litigation.

Book ban bills may target schools and libraries specifically for now, but those actions are forward movements and should create momentum to take the First Amendment Rights protections even further. Indeed, it would make sense for parent groups pushing against book bans on the local level at their schools and libraries to connect with the leaders of anti-censorship campaigns in prisons and share their mutual knowledge, their tools, their wins, and their defeats. If access to books means people are less likely to return to prison once they are released, is that not a lesson that should also be shared at school and library board meetings? If legislators have signed off on a bill to end book bans in schools and libraries, why not push for the next measure of liberation and demand that every prison, public or private, have a library equipped with a full-time employee and books that have an average publication date within the last 5-10 years?

Wins in one arena are wins in all arenas…if action continues.

We know that the same things driving people to ban books in schools and libraries is the same exact bigotry and racism behind choking access to books in prisons. It’s hatred, it’s power, and it is fear of what happens when someone is able to see themselves or others in a story and become empowered, enlightened, free. An educated populous is a populous that cannot be easily controlled or manipulated. We know this based on the connections between recidivism and books. We know this based on how reading increases empathy and multiple literacies and critical thinking.

We know this based on the types of books being ripped from shelves right now and the rhetoric around them. “Critical Race Theory,” “DEI,” “Gender Ideology,” “Social Emotional Learning,” and “Comprehensive Sexuality [sic] Education” are all dog-whistles for the idea of thinking without being told what to think. Books that do not paint a happy, colorful image to cover up the lies and misinformation perpetuated throughout history are uncomfortable for those in power to sit with because they shine a light on how they earned that power.

In 2023, an important bill related to prison book bans emerged at the federal level: The Prison Libraries Act. U.S. Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), and Shontel Brown (D-OH) proposed the bill in April 2023, which would authorize $60,000,000 over six years for state prisons to provide library resources and services . This wasn’t just about dropping tons of books into the prisons and moving on. Trained professionals would be there to help people use the educational and entertainment resources. The Act would also help build powerful coalitions between prisons and the local libraries in their community.

Unfortunately, the bill made zero progress and received little attention. The possibility of seeing such a bill again is difficult to imagine with today’s authoritarian regime–one which can’t even pass a budget on time–but bills like this are worth fighting for.

If you believe in the rights of all to read, then that extends, too, to what continues to happen in prisons across the country. The same goes in the other direction: if you care about prison censorship, then you also care about what is (or is not!) happening in schools and public libraries.

Now is the time to work together.

Further Resources:

• Michelle Dillon, Vice President of Books to Prisoners, talks about the biggest stories and needs related to prison censorship right now. Even though this piece ran less than a month ago, several of these stories have already changed–and not for the better.
• Erica Ezefedi writes about how prison censorship is part of slavery’s legacy.
• Three incredible voices who’ve done time on the inside write about where and how prison censorship–and access to books more broadly–impacted their lives while serving their sentences. Read Mark Twain Goes to Prison by Derek Trumbo, Uninspired Reading by Ken Meyers, and Free Prison Tablets Aren’t Actually Free by Ezzial Williams. Then pick up the book Books through Bars: Stories from the Prison Books Movement edited by Moira Marquis and Dave “Mac” Marquis, which offers an array of personal and intimate stories about the power of books for those experiencing incarceration.
• Why and How Censorship Thrives in Prisons.
• Aisling Twomey wrote about the history and current state of prison newspapers, which provide critical opportunities for allowing incarcerated individuals to express themselves (and share a true look at what’s happening on the inside).
• Learn about the depth and breadth of book censorship in Prisons with the incredible work being done by The Marshall Project.
• Claire Kelley at Library Journal talked about the Prison Library Support Network, a group helping with the gap between being behind bars and needing information and research needs met earlier this year.
• Finally, engage with Prison Banned Books Week. Everything you need to know is on the linked website, and know that throughout the week (and beyond!) a number of bookstores and nonprofits will encourage folks to donate books to get to individuals experiencing incarceration.

Book Censorship News: October 17, 2025

• Did you know that Lush stories have participated in Banned Books Week for the last several years? This year, they highlighted Fry Bread. What a rad initiative and important manner of bringing the issue of banned books and attacks on all of our First Amendment Rights to an audience who may never step foot in a library–but who need to know what’s going on anyway.
• The latest update in librarian Amanda Jones’s defamation lawsuit is a great update.
• What to know about Arkansas’s embattled Act 372, which would allow for the jailing of librarians and removal of any book deemed “inappropriate for minors” by anyone who sees fit to throw a fit.
• At my own newsletter, I highlighted the current state of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
• A solid story from the Indianapolis Star about what happens to books when they’re banned from public or school libraries.
• “If you were outraged over Jimmy Kimmel, you should be three times as outraged over this. Our libraries belong to the people. We fund them collectively. And they should serve everyone in our communities — without discriminatory, viewpoint-based censorship.” An excellent column from Stephana Ferrell of the Florida Freedom to Read Project talking about how book bans are about control, not so-called “parental rights.”
• A deeper dive into the story about the book bans at the Department of Defense Education Activity schools.
• Author Mary Boone talks about having her storytime event canceled at the Tacoma Children’s Museum’s site on Joint Base Lewis-McChord (WA). Why was it canceled? “I was told it violated the administration’s executive order restricting so-called “radical” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs across federal institutions. Someone complained when they saw my story time being promoted. Museum higher-ups appealed to military attorneys, who ruled that the program about a pioneering cyclist was out of bounds.”
• Talawanda City School District (OH) has a complaint about Raina Telgemeier’s Drama being available in an elementary school classroom. The fomenting begins at about one hour and 17 minutes into the recording.
• Here’s a bananapants opinion column from a North Dakota adult who says creating a book rating system for kid’s and YA books would be easy, with bonus content about how she uses ChatGPT to find herself “clean” books to read but not everyone has the privilege of knowing how to use such search engines. These are the people taking over your libraries and schools, y’all. It’s so easy a “search engine” like ChatGPT could do it. Forget those trained professionals, eh? Or the age ratings that already exist on those books? (ChatGPT isn’t a search engine).
• Randolph County Public Library (NC) heard complaints about Call Me Max, a picture book featuring a transgender main character. But in good news, the library won’t be pulling the book. It’s seriously mind-boggling how far into this rise in censorship we are and that the solution for the complainers still isn’t “I won’t borrow the book I don’t like!” (We know a good portion of why is because if their kid wants to borrow the book, those parents then have to explain to their children why they’re bigots).
• Lapeer District Library (MI) has their board meeting this week, where we will likely learn more about their new book banning policies–sorry, collection policies.
• Memphis Public Library (TN) is implementing a city-wide policy on what can and cannot be on library book displays.
• This summer, I wrote about a potential Wyoming bill that would land itself as potentially the most extreme book ban legislation in the country. It would essentially abolish teen library collections. State legislators just got support from a judicial panel for the bill. Expect to hear a lot about Wyoming next legislative session.
• West Shore schools (PA) tabled a discussion of their book ban policy as “it needs a little more work.” This is one that would ban some Shakespeare because it’s so massively broad. It’ll be up for discussion soon.
• Utah’s state officials “audited” some books in school libraries and still think there’s plenty of material to ban statewide (recall that if three school districts ban a book in the state, it’s banned from every school in the state). One of the suggestions made was to revoke librarian autonomy and expertise in making library collection decisions. “Instead of librarians deciding which books to purchase, the audit suggested districts provide “support to librarians in making book selections.” This, the audit said, would give librarians “additional professional protection when or if books are challenged.”” Things are about to get a whole lot worse in Utah.
• The cost of book bans in Florida is astronomical. Your taxpayer money is being wasted on partisan politics at the school level.
• Speaking of how costly book bans are, in Elizabeth School District (CO), where several books were banned and the district was sued over it, a right-wing former state gubernatorial candidate is fundraising to “save” the district because of mounting legal fees. Here’s a radical thought: don’t ban books and you won’t get sued for it. (We know the financial strain is part of the point).
• Quincy Catholic Schools (IL) now will no longer have visits by the public library’s bookmobile, as some administration think the public library doesn’t reflect the values of their faith. This library has been under attack for a few months now.
• PEN America has submitted a legal brief in support of the Supreme Court hearing the case of Little vs. Llano County.
• “John Pyle, Hays resident, compared some of the books in the young adult section to Hustler or Playboy. at a meeting of the library board on Wednesday. ” Hays Public Library (KS) spent half an hour hearing from people about a banned books display made in the library to bring awareness to book banning. The complainers brought their usual nonsense, including comparing LGBTQ+ books to adult magazines. This is all they have.
• Daviess County Public Library (KY) relocated four books from the YA section–where they belong–to the adult section–where they don’t. This means they’ve just censored books, even if they want to pretend they didn’t. Yes, this is the same board which just had a local religious leader appointed that local right-wing folks were cheering because it meant they would be able to get rid of all the books they disapproved of.
• During research for this weekly post–now well into its fourth year–a story suggesting that book banners be named to take away their power kept popping up. Unfortunately, I’m not sure this is the solution here, especially after this long. Book banners are excited to have their names pop up; for them, it’s a further badge of honor and status. Should they be named in official reports? Sure. But in every discussion? It’s music to their ears. This is how they want to be remembered.
• “An Orange County Superior Court judge has ordered the city of Huntington Beach to eliminate a youth-restricted section on the fourth floor of the Central Library and return all books that had been moved there pursuant to a City Council resolution to their original location.” This should never have happened, and chances are there will be a fight here still, but we take good news as it comes. (Note that this story about democratic institutions was paywalled).
• Speaking of paywalls, some kind of book complaint is happening in Lincoln R-2 schools in Missouri, but that’s all the information you’re allowed to have here. Democracy dies behind a paywall (and you can paywall news without chopping off information like this that only helps keep people out of the loop of their local civic institutions).

Earlier this week, I reported on eight books being banned from Georgia’s statewide reading bowl for students. After significant response, the bulk of which was led by teenagers who participate in the optional annual event, the books have been returned to the competition.