Texas Prison Book Bans Overview

Texas Prison Book Bans

• Texas prisons have banned nearly 10,000 books, including works by Nobel laureates, civil rights leaders, and even Shakespeare.
• The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) cites various reasons for book bans, including content that could "disrupt the system," "communicate information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons," or contain "sexually explicit" imagery.
• Texas Letters, an anthology of letters written by people in solitary confinement, was banned because it contained information about the realities of solitary confinement, including violence, abuse, and mental health issues.
• The ban on Texas Letters is part of a broader pattern of censorship in Texas prisons, which seeks to limit knowledge about social justice issues, the history of slavery and mass incarceration, and the experiences of incarcerated people.
• Several writers featured in Texas Letters highlight the importance of reading and writing as a means of survival and coping with the harsh realities of solitary confinement.
• The anthology has been distributed to law school libraries, including Harvard, Columbia, Berkeley, and Stanford, to raise awareness about solitary confinement.

Notable Cases

• Lupe Constante, a former combat engineer and author of Texas Letters, has been in solitary confinement for over 20 years and is not allowed to read his own book.
• Xandan Gulley, a former military service member, has been in solitary for nearly a decade and describes the physical and mental torture he has endured.
• Kwaneta Harris, a former nurse and incarcerated journalist, has spent eight years in solitary and was banned from accessing the prison library. She highlights the prevalence of gender-based violence in women's solitary confinement.
• Dillion Compton, a death row inmate, wrote in the anthology about his experience in the juvenile prison system and the need for hope and support for incarcerated men.
• Monsour Owolabi, who has spent over eight years in solitary, sees the ban on the anthology as an attempt to erase Black history through censorship.

Arguments & Context

• Solitary confinement is considered a violation of human rights by the United Nations.
• Texas has a high incarceration rate and is known for its harsh prison system, which includes extensive use of solitary confinement.
• Book bans in prisons are a form of censorship and a means of limiting knowledge and silencing voices.
• The anthology, despite its ban, has been disseminated to academic institutions and is serving as a resource for those working to end solitary confinement.