Reading Behind Bars

For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison.

Seems then that this Boston Review article on what prisoners are allowed to read is timely.

In April 2000, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) decided to increase its control over prisoners held in level two of its Long Term Segregation Unit (LTSU-2), by initiating extreme restrictions on reading. Prison officials had decided that newspapers could be dangerous, and not only for the reasons Douglass had implied. LTSU is reserved for the “most incorrigible” and “recalcitrant” inmates, and, at the time, LTSU-2 housed the worst of these intractable prisoners, who were categorized as threatening to inmates and correctional officers or belonging to a “Security Threat Group” or other unauthorized organization.

    

Prisoners in LTSU-2—never more than forty at a time—were isolated 23 hours a day in their cells, denied radio and television broadcasts, and prevented from earning a GED (General Education Diploma) or taking special education classes.