Poster #91 - Understanding the Logic Behind Prison Book Bans

• In Event: Poster Session II (posters 80 – 155)

Abstract

The current project has examined prison book ban lists from various states to understand the reasons for books to be banned within prisons. The books were subdivided into a variety of categories ranging from violent content to skill improvement books. While some books may have a clear logic to be banned such as teaching how to make weapons, others made less sense such as computer coding skills that could be beneficial upon release in obtaining employment. The current work is looking specifically at this latter category of books to determine the extent that book banning can negatively impact incarcerated individuals. Future work will survey individuals who have participated in the Inside-Out educational programming while incarcerated to see if they were aware of the book bans and if so, how it impacted them during incarceration. Incarcerated individuals face many barriers in the re-entry process, book bans need to be studied more to help guide correctional policies.

Authors

• Devon Skufca, University at Buffalo, SUNY

• Katie Knoll-Frey, John Carroll University