Every year, the government spends tens of billions of dollars teaching and encouraging children to read in school, from kindergarten to senior year. The societal consensus is that reading is good and should be encouraged, which is why we spend money on public education, libraries, adult literacy programs and similar endeavors. The exception is jail.
Since at least 2022, the Dallas County jail system has not allowed inmates to receive magazines, newspapers or paperbacks unless they live in a housing area without access to electronic tablets. The effect is a near-total ban on printed materials.
Most state and local prisoners in Texas read below a fourth-grade level. So why isn’t reading being encouraged?
For over 36 years, I have edited a monthly magazine called Prison Legal News, which reports on issues related to prisons and jails, including news, court rulings, studies, legislation and more. If you are locked up, you probably want to read PLN.
We also publish and distribute self-help books that are aimed at prisoners. These cover topics like how to write a business letter, how to do legal research and what your rights actually are in prison or jail. It does not make sense to publish magazines or books that are useful to prisoners if they cannot receive them, so we frequently sue prisons and jails that ban books and magazines.
Back in 2007, the Dallas County jail censored our books and magazines as part of a policy banning magazines or newspapers. We filed suit to end the practice. The jail decided to settle the case by entering into a consent decree, which is a court-enforceable agreement, promising not to ban PLN publications again, and that if they did, they would let us know about it.
Last year, we learned the jail had been banning publications since at least 2022, and they did not tell us or the court they were doing so. We recently filed a motion asking the federal court to make Dallas jail officials show cause why they should not be held in contempt for violating the consent decree they entered in 2007. We are also filing a new lawsuit to stop the ban on publications and ensure both that prisoners can receive printed publications and publishers can send them.
Dallas jail officials have been fighting a losing battle to ban publications for decades, since the jail was first enjoined by a federal court and ordered not to ban books and magazines. They have been sued multiple times and keep losing.
Officials claim drugs and other contraband enter the jail through the mail and that prisoners use paper to jam locks. Book and magazine publishers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Human Rights Defense Center and many others are not sending anyone contraband. We just want people to be able to read our books and magazines, even if they are locked up.
The vast majority of jails in the United States, including those in Tarrant and Bexar counties, manage to deliver books and magazines from publishers and maintain safe, secure environments. We know it can be done because plenty of other facilities do it without violating the First Amendment.
Jail officials claim they want to have a paperless jail. I will believe it when they install bidets in every cell and get rid of toilet paper. Jails are notorious for their lack of activities and prisoners typically pass the time playing cards and watching TV. Reading should always be an option. This type of blanket ban on books and magazines should be offensive to everyone who believes in free speech.
Schools and libraries ban books based on content, but the public and students can still buy or access them elsewhere. That isn’t so for prisoners, who cannot access the publications at all.
This runs the gamut from religious books like the Bible, the Quran and self-help books, to fun and entertaining books that people read to pass the time or because they like to read them. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects everyone’s right to read, including prisoners, and it protects publishers’ right to have our materials read. Big publishers like Amazon and The Dallas Morning News have the same constitutional right to free speech as Prison Legal News.
Dallas jail officials must immediately end their publication ban and ensure prisoners can once again access and read books and magazines. The consent decree they signed in 2007 requires it, and so does the Constitution.
Paul Wright is the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News.
