BANNED BOOKS IN THE TEXAS
PRISON SYSTEM
HOW THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
CENSORS BOOKS SENT TO PRISONERS

© Alan Pogue, via Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants

A TEXAS CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT 2011 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

Maggie Watson, Christopher A. Johnston, Kelly Burns, Lindsey Smith, Jessica Fuselier, Rhea Sen,
Crystal Aldape, Janine Wetzel, Nick Buratto, Lauren Conner, Bridgett Mayeaux, Andrew Johnson,
Nicholas Jackson, Scott Medlock, and Zaida Riquelme collaborated on this report. Special thanks to
Vinson & Elkins and the Inside Books Project, for research assistance, Steve Ely for technical assistance,
LibraryThing.com for existing, and to Terri LeClerque for assistance with copy editing.

Texas Civil Rights Project
The Michael Tigar Human Rights Center
1405 Montopolis Drive
Austin, TX 78741

Texas Civil Rights Project Board of Directors
Pablo Almaguér, Roxann Chargois, Ouisa Davis, Leona Diener,
David A. Grenardo, Chuck Herring, and Renato Ramirez

www.texascivilrightsproject.org
(512) 474 5073 (phone) (512) 474 0726 (fax)

© Texas Civil Rights Project, 2011
All Rights Reserved

2

Executive Summary
What do William Shakespeare, Jenna Bush, Sister Helen Prejean, Sojouner Truth, Juan
Williams, 50 Cent, John Grisham, Noam Chomsky, Stephen King, John Updike, Kurt
Vonnegut, Jack Kerouac, George Carlin, Gore Vidal, George Orwell, Gustave Flaubert,
and Jon Stewart have in common?
They have each written at least one book banned in Texas prisons.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) arbitrarily censors books and
magazines sent to Texas prisoners. Though cultivating literacy has obvious rehabilitative
benefits, TDCJ prevents prisoners from reading many books, including works by awardwinning authors, literary classics, and books about civil rights and prison conditions. In
violation of prisoners’ First Amendment rights, TDCJ prohibits the simple pleasure of
reading important books.
Many of TDCJ’s censorship decisions are bizarre. While it seems reasonable to censor
Guns and Ammo, for example, it’s hard to understand why issues of Guns Illustrated
would be allowed. Though TDCJ could likely constitutionally censor both, this is a
prime example of the arbitrary nature of TDCJ’s censorship decisions.
Other censorship is far more insidious. TDCJ has censored several books critical of
prison conditions and TDCJ itself. All of these censorship decisions rest on very flimsy,
unconstitutional justifications.
One book, Texas Tough: The Rise and Fall of America’s Prison Empire, a history of
TDCJ, was censored for containing a passage about “sex with a minor.” In fact, the
single paragraph is a non-explicit description of how one female prisoner was sexually
assaulted as a young girl by her uncle, leading her to a lifetime of drugs, crime, and
incarceration.
Finally, many censorship decisions seem to be made simply because TDCJ officers want
to deny prisoners the books they choose to read. In one instance, TDCJ censored Fried
Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, allegedly because its content is racially
inflammatory. Anyone who has seen the Academy Award-nominated movie based on
the book would have a hard time understanding how this book could cause a prison race
riot.
Though the Constitution allows TDCJ to censor books that could legitimately threaten
prison security, TDCJ is censoring even extremely innocuous material. This censorship
violates long-established constitutional law.
3

Note on Sources
This report is an examination of the guidelines for publications sent to TDCJ
prisoners, including policies regarding censorable content and their application.
TDCJ’s specific policies for mail and publications sent to prisoners can be found in
TDCJ’s Board Policy 03.91, and in the appendix to this report.
All information about specific censorship decisions comes from documents and
databases produced in litigation. TCRP represents Prison Legal News, a non-profit
prison reform organization that distributes five banned books, in Prison Legal
News v. Livingston, No. 2:09-cv-00296 (S.D. Tex. – Corpus Christi 2009). The
case is currently on appeal before the Fifth Circuit. The complete list of banned
and allowed books is on TCRP’s website,
www.texascivilrightsproject.org/go/prisonbooks
During the Prison Legal News litigation, TCRP conducted depositions of TDCJ
employees. These depositions were helpful in writing this report, and transcripts
are available on TCRP’s website.
Though this report focuses on books, it more generally discusses “publications,”
which can include books, magazines, and other reading material.

4

The Benefits of Reading for Prisoners
If there is any activity prisons should encourage during incarceration, it is reading.
Reading has many educational and rehabilitative benefits for prisoners. To
encourage reading, prisons should allow inmates to choose the materials they find
most engaging (with reasonable limits). By banning non-controversial books that
prisoners want to read, prisons discourage inmates from picking up any book.
Reading keeps prisoners occupied. “Idle minds are the devil’s workshop,”
especially in prison. If prisoners are busy reading, they are less likely to violate
prison rules.
Reading also has obvious educational benefits. Reading helps to build knowledge
and vocabulary. Aside from the value of enhancing knowledge by reading, readers
of adult-level books are exposed to a higher number of uncommon words than
people watching prime-time television (by more than a two-to-one margin), which
leads to the development of a larger vocabulary. Furthering attributes like these
can benefit prisoners by better preparing them for employment following their
incarceration.
Reading also makes prisoners better writers. Prisoners rely on the mail to keep in
touch with family and support organizations in the “free world.” Improving the
quality of their writing strengthens these relationships, which are critical for a
successful return to free society. Thus, it is not surprising reading positively
correlates with lower recidivism rates, benefitting both the public and the prisoner.
Reading also generally improves the mental acuity of prisoners. For example,
reading is more demanding on a prisoner’s brain than watching television. Such
mental activity enhances the ability to learn new skills, improves memory, and
diminishes the effects of age on the brain. Consequently, reading while
incarcerated allows the prisoner to return to society in the best possible mental
state. These benefits are further enhanced by the fact that, once good reading
habits are developed, these benefits are enjoyed beyond one’s prison term.
Moreover, according to a recent project at Cornell University, reading habits
correlate with being an active participant in one’s community, a skill that is critical
to both social and individual well-being. Reading can enhance a prisoner’s ability
5

for internal reflection, a skill prisoners commonly lack. While reading, a prisoner
becomes engaged in the story, causing personal reflection. As prisoners read about
fictional characters, they consider the situation the characters find themselves in.
When a reader personally relates to a character, this self-relation can lead to
beneficial introspection of who the reader is and a reflection on their previous
actions. Furthermore, social interaction is benefitted through reading because the
reader analyzes and engages in the social interactions of the characters in the story.
When prisoners can select the books they read, they are more likely to find their
reading engaging and to relate to the characters.
Finally, allowing prisoners to read books of their choosing provides them with the
benefits of rehabilitation while prison rehabilitation programming is likely to be
slashed by the legislature. A prisoner can read in his or her own cell—even while
a prison is “locked down” and other programming is cancelled, a prisoner’s mind
remains engaged.

6

Prisoners’ Constitutional Right to Read
“Prison walls do not form a barrier separating prison inmates from the protections
of the Constitution.”1 When prisons censor incoming mail, they potentially violate
the First Amendment rights of both the prisoner and the person who sent the
correspondence. “Both parties to the correspondence have an interest in [having
the correspondence read], and censorship of the communication between them
necessarily impinges on the interest of each.” 2 In 1989, the Supreme Court
confirmed publishers have a free speech right to “communicate with [prisoners]
who … willing[ly] seek their point of view.” 3
Prisons officials can only censor publications when “reasonably related to a
legitimate penological interest.”4 This standard allows prisons to keep out books
that, for example, show prisoners how to escape or make weapons. The prison
must show the objective of the censorship is “legitimate and neutral” and that
regulations are “rationally related to that objective.” 5 The Supreme Court has held
prisons cannot censor materials that express even “inflammatory political, racial,
religious or other views” or are “defamatory” or “otherwise inappropriate.”6
Prisons cannot censor books based on the “whims of administrators”7 or “apply
their own personal prejudices and opinions as standards for prisoner mail
censorship.”8
Most prisons and jails, including TDCJ, follow the “publishers only rule.”
Individuals cannot be send books to prisoners. All books, pamphlets, magazines
and periodicals must come directly from a publisher, bookstore, or other
distributor. Upheld by the courts, this rule ensures incoming books are not used to
smuggle contraband.
Generally, however, First Amendment law allows prisoners to read a wide variety
of books and magazines.

7

How Does TDCJ Censor Books?
When TDCJ censors a book, prisoners are completely banned from reading it. If
TDCJ objects to a single word, the entire book is banned—pages cannot be
removed or words blacked out.
Three different TDCJ bodies make censorship decisions, depending upon the stage
of review and the type of publication. The first reviewer is the individual prison
unit mail room that receives the publication. The publication is checked against a
master list of publications already deemed acceptable. If the publication is on the
list, the prisoner receives it. If not on the list, the mailroom officer decides if the
book has “objectionable” content.
TDCJ policy bans books if they:
1) Contain contraband;
2) Contain information about manufacturing explosives, drugs or weapons;
3) Are written “solely for the purpose of” “achiev[ing] the breakdown of
prisons” through strikes, riots, or gang activity;
4) The prison makes “a specific determination … that the publication is
detrimental to offenders’ rehabilitation because it would encourage deviant
criminal sexual behavior”;
5) Have instructions on how to set up “criminal schemes”; or,
9
6) Contain “sexually explicit images.”
No further written guidelines describe when to censor books, 10 and TDCJ does not
provide any training to its employees on the constitutional rights of those who send
books to prisoners. 11 TDCJ “do[es] not attempt to determine whether the
remainder of the book contains other content, which is not in violation of policy or
which would ‘outweigh’ [a single] reference.” 12
If a prisoner decides to appeal a mailroom officer’s decision to censor a
publication, the appeal will go to a central TDCJ office in Huntsville. Periodicals
go to the Mail System Coordinators Panel (MSCP). Any items other than
periodicals, including books, go to the Directors Review Committee (DRC). All
appeals are decided by these two bodies. Their decisions are final, unless the

8

TDCJ Censorship Abbreviations

prisoner files a lawsuit. As most prisoners
cannot find a lawyer to bring these cases,
MSCP/DRC decisions are essentially final.
The MSCP is “the body designated to assist
in the maintenance and coordination of the
Uniform Offender Mail System.” Its
responsibility is “to bring uniformity to the
decisions of the various units by providing
technical assistance and rule interpretation;
serve[] as the centralized authority for the
review of publications for initial unit
acceptance or denial; provide[] training for
mailroom
staff;
conduct[]
in-depth
monitoring of all unit mailrooms; and
submit[] periodic reports pertaining to the
offender mail system.” 13
The MSCP
employs three people who work in
Huntsville.

ALC BVG – manufacture of alcoholic beverage
BRK WPN – breakdown of a weapon
BRO - brother
BST - beastiality
CHM FRM – chemical formula
DTR - daughter
EXP – how to manufacture explosives
FTR - father
INC - incest
IND CHL – indecency with a child
M/H – men engaging in homosexual activity
MAR ART – martial arts
MTR - mother
NCE - niece
NEC – necrophilia
NEP - nephew

The DRC is “the body of appointed agency
administrators with authority to hear all
appeals related to rejected correspondence,
publications and placements (of individuals
or organizations) on negative mailing
lists.”14 In practice, however, the DRC has
delegated its book review powers to the
MSCP, and very rarely hears book appeals.
Thus, the MSCP reviews the vast majority of
appeals.

NUD CHL – nude child
RCL - racial
S/M – sadomasochism (bondage)
SECURITY – could cause security concerns
SEI – sexually explicit image
SEX MNR – sex with a minor
SIS - sister
STG – security threat group (gang)
SYM TRN – symbols and translations
UNA GRP – unauthorized group/organization
related
W/H – women engaging in homosexual
activity

9

If the book is censored, a mailroom
official is responsible for notifying the
prisoners of the rejection and informing
them of the appeals process. The
books’ “sender” is also notified, if the
book has not previously been appealed.
This latter point has critical impact, as
this report shows.

MSCP Decisions on
Appeal
13%
Allowed

87%

Banned

The notice provides very little
information about why the publication
has been censored.
Usually the
explanation is just a few words and a
page number. TDCJ usually only provides an abbreviation to explain why the
book is being censored. Sample rejection notices appear in the appendix.
A prisoner or sender who wants to
appeal fills out a form and gives it to
the unit mailroom to be submitted with
the publication in question. If the
MSCP or DRC feels the publication
does not violate the proscribed criteria,
it reverses the ban and forwards the
publication to the prisoner. The MSCP
and DRC must render final decisions
within two weeks after receiving the
appeal and shall issue written
notification of the decision to the
prisoner and publisher within 48 hours.

Books Permanently Banned

22.47%

77.53%

Not yet
appealed
Permanently
banned

A book can only be appealed once. After the MSCP/DRC rules on an appeal, its
decision is final. After a book has been denied on appeal, the prisoners will still be
provided notice the book was censored, but the “sender” will not receive any
notice at all. If a book has been censored in the mailroom, but not appealed to the
MSCP/DRC, the book will remain on the banned list until someone successfully
appeals.
10

Serious problems prevent the appeals system from working effectively. When
prisoners appeal, they never have an opportunity to see the book. They are in a
classic Catch-22 having to articulate an appeal about a book they have never been
able to even look at. If a prisoner appeals unsuccessfully, a sender (who would be
able to read the book in the free world) cannot appeal because, at that point, the
book is already under a permanent ban.
Over 86% of all appeals are denied. Of the total number of books on the banned
list, almost 78% are permanently banned, with no further possibility of appeal.
Until now, the complete list of banned books has never been publicly available.
This creates real problems for those who want to send books to prisoners. A
sender must pay for a book and for the postage to mail it to a prisoner, with no way
to know if the book is already on the banned book list. And if the book is already
permanently banned, senders will never even receive notice that the book they sent
was censored. TDCJ’s failure to make the list publicly available also limits
prisoners’ and senders’ ability to argue on appeal that a book should not be
censored. Without knowing what books are acceptable and which are censored,
articulating an intelligent argument becomes much more difficult, if not
impossible.

11

Figure 1: Process Map for Publications in the Texas Prison Mail System.
Publisher or
distributor sends
publication.

Prison Mail Room:
Is publication on approved list?

Prisoner Receives
Publication

Yes

No
Prison Mail Room:
Makes decision as to
appropriateness of the
material.

Prisoner Receives
Publication

Yes

No
Prison Mail Room, if book
not already censored on
appeal:

Prison Mail Room, if book
already denied on appeal:
1) Only prisoner notified of
censorship.

1) Notifies prisoner and
sender of censorship.

2) No Appeal Possible.

2) Provides notice of appeal
procedure.
3) Prisoner/sender can
appeal.

If
Appealed
Anything other than a
periodical goes to:

All periodicals go to:
Mail System
Coordinators Panel:

Director’s Review Committee,
which delegates to MSCP:

Does the publication pass BP
03.91 guidelines?

Does publication pass BP
03.91 guidelines?

No
Publication Denied
to Prisoner
Book Permanently
Banned
12

Yes

Prisoner
Receives
Publication

The Numbers: How Many Books Does TDCJ Censor?
In 2008, TDCJ did not allow prisoners to receive 11,544 books that were sent to
them. Prisoners attempted to appeal 2,472 times, but the MSCP/DRC actually
reviewed only 1,210. (Approximately 1,200 books were already permanently
banned, preventing the prisoners from appealing.) Only three TDCJ employees
review appeals, requiring them to consider between two and three books each
day. 15
The complete banned books list has 11,851 titles.16 Of these books, 8,002 books
are permanently banned—no further appeal is possible. The remaining titles have
not been appealed yet to the DRC/MSCP.

Banned Books by TDCJ's Censorship Reason
8000
7000
6000

Contraband

5000

Manufacture Drugs/Weapons

4000

Strikes, Riots, Gangs

3000

Deviant Sexual Behavior

2000

Criminal Instructions
Sexually Explicit Images

1000
0
Total

Of the banned titles, over 7,000 are censored because they allegedly “encourage
deviant criminal sexual behavior,” by far, the largest category set out in the TDCJ
policy. As discussed below, this expansive category is not just pornography—it
includes many literary classics and works by respected authors.
The second largest category, books allegedly written “solely for the purpose of”
“achiev[ing] the breakdown of prisons” through strikes, riots or gang activity.
Many of these titles actually discuss prison conditions, race relations, and civil
rights and are only “dangerous” because they inform prisoners about their
constitutional rights.
13

Books that include instructions on manufacturing drugs or weapons or otherwise
have “criminal instructions” are banned for obvious reasons. (“Criminal
instructions” includes prison escape information.) Most of these censorship
decisions appear legitimate, because the books could be used for these illicit
purposes, even if the title was otherwise meritorious. (For example, Picking
Cotton, by Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson, is a joint memoir by a prisoner
exonerated by DNA evidence and the woman who wrongfully accused him of rape.
Though former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said the book “put[s] a human
face on issues involving wrongful convictions,” in the text the prisoner does
explicitly describe how he brewed homemade alcohol in his cell during his eleven
years in prison.) Many of the titles banned for “criminal schemes” are titles
discussing topics like preventing identity theft that TDCJ presumes could be used
to commit identity theft or other crimes.
Banned Books by Category
Contraband
Manufacture Drugs/Weapons
Strikes, Gangs and Riots
“Deviant” Sexual Behavior
Criminal Instructions
Sexually Explicit Images
Total

637
1,307
1,774
7,061
976
543
12,298 17

When they censor a book, TDCJ officials are supposed to provide additional
information about why they are banning it. This information effectively creates
sub-categories of banned books—such as books with “racial” content that could
(theoretically) cause riots in prison facilities. Here, TCRP sorted TDCJ’s data into
these smaller categories.

14

Detailed Reasons for Censorship
5000
4500
4000
Symbols & Translations

3500

Sexually Explicit Images
Criminal Schemes

3000

Fighting Techniques
2500

Deviant Sexual Behavior
Gambling

2000

Racial Content
Homosexuality

1500

Manufacture Drugs/Weapons
1000

Contraband

500
0
Total

This chart shows the number of books that could legitimately be censored based on
prison security concerns. For example, the number of books describing how to
manufacture drugs and weapons, while significant, remains fairly small. Likewise,
very few books are censored for demonstrating fighting techniques, containing
contraband, and promoting gambling. The largest categories remain: books that
“encourage deviant criminal sexual behavior,” books that discuss race, and books
that contain “sexually explicit” images.
Some books are banned for more than one reason. Because of the large number of
titles censored for “encouraging deviant criminal sexual activity,” TCRP
determined which books within that category were censored for more than one
reason:

15

Secondary Censorship Reasons
800
700
600
Symbols and Translations
Criminal Schemes

500

Fighting Techniques
400

Gambling
Racial Content

300

Homosexuality
Manufacture Drugs/Weapons

200

Contraband

100
0
Total

16

Most Censored Publishers
TDCJ employees are also required to record the publisher of each censored book.
(Almost 500 titles have no publisher listed, however, likely due to TDCJ officials
failing to complete this line on the forms.)
Top Ten Publishers

No. of Titles

Greenleaf Classics

681

None recorded

499

Star Distributors

288

Holloway House

152

Pocket Books

152

Warner Books

147

Harper Collins

114

Simon & Schuster

107

Avon Books

99

Ballantine Books

96

Total

2,335

Greenleaf Classics and Star Distributors publish “adult” books—primarily erotica.
Holloway House primarily publishes “true crime” thrillers. Avon Books largely
distributes romance novels. Pocket, Warner, Harper Collins, Ballantine, and
Simon & Schuster are some of the largest publishing houses in the world, and
publish an astonishing variety of titles. Assuming all the titles published by
Greenleaf and Star were pornography that could be legitimately censored,
thousands of other titles still remain questionable.

17

Most Censored Authors
The ten most censored authors are equally interesting. 18
respected authors are frequently censored by TDCJ.
Author

Many mainstream,

No. of Titles

Rand McNally

39

Donald Goines

28

James Patterson

25

William Johnstone

23

Readers’ Digest

21

Luis Royo

21

John Grisham

16

Clive Barker

15

Susie Bright

15

Editors of Penthouse

15

TDCJ censors Rand McNally’s atlases on the presumption they could assist
prisoners in escape attempts. Most of Readers’ Digests’ censored titles are also
books of maps.
John Grisham and James Patterson are among the most popular mainstream
authors in the United States. Their books fill airport bookshops, high school
libraries, and grocery store magazine racks. Grisham, a former lawyer, primarily
authors “legal thrillers,” which frequently revolve around wrongfully convicted
peoples’ quests for justice. (The Chamber, which TDCJ has banned, involves a
young lawyer’s crusade to save his grandfather from execution for a crime he did
not commit.) Patterson primarily writes detective thrillers, which frequently top
the New York Times bestsellers list.
18

Donald Goines is one of the foremost authors of “urban fiction.” Urban fiction is
primarily written by African American authors and touches on themes of race,
culture, and poverty. Goines was one of the pioneers of the genre, and his work
has influenced many authors that followed him. The North Carolina Department
of Corrections recently agreed to pay $10,000 to a prisoner after censoring urban
fiction novels he had written. 19
William Johnstone is the author of more than 200 western, horror, and survivalist
novels. Like the other authors whose works TDCJ frequently censors, TDCJ bans
the vast majority of his books because they discuss race and sex.
Luis Royo is a Spanish fantasy
artist.
Each of his books,
collections of his work, are
banned for “sexually explicit
images.” Royo frequently paints
“barbarian women” and other
sword and sorcery characters.
Susie Bright is a “sex positive
feminist” whose collections of
erotica are banned by TDCJ.
Bright is a podcast host and
author who frequently discusses
social concerns, free speech, and
sexuality.

Luis Royo painting, typical of his work banned by TDCJ.

Censorship of these authors’ books is questionable, at best. None of these books
encourage criminal activity, promote violence, or trench upon any other legitimate
reason for censorship.

19

Annual Censorship Decisions
In recent years, the number of instances of censorship has outstripped growth in
the number of TDCJ prisoners. The TDCJ population saw rapid increases in the
1990s, as Texas built additional prisons and made changes to parole laws that kept
prisoners incarcerated longer periods of time. Though the chart below shows an
increase in book denials in the mid-1990s coinciding with the TDCJ population
boom, a much larger spike occurred in 2005. Thus, the increase in censorship
moves independently of the increase in prison population.

Total Book Denials (1980-2009)
1400
1200
1000
800
600

Total

400
200
0
1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

TDCJ Prisoner Population (1980 - 2010)
180,000
160,000
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0

Total

1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009

20

What Books is TDCJ Censoring?
Methodology
Looking at the spreadsheet containing around 12,000 books TDCJ has banned,
TCRP wanted to see what types of books were censored. Were they mostly fiction
books? Geography? Reference encyclopedias?
TCRP began by separating all of the books for which TDCJ had entered an
International Standard Book Number (ISBN), which is a unique numeric
commercial book identifier. TDCJ had entered an ISBN for approximately 7,400
of the approximately 12,000 banned titles. (Many of the books without ISBN
numbers were published by the major pornography publishers, Greenleaf and Star.)
TCRP processed these 7,400 numbers through online tools, including ISBN
Search, LibraryThing and Lookup Multiple Books Software. These tools checked
the ISBN provided against an online database and returned the books’ Dewey
Decimal Classification numbers.
Volunteers worked to locate Dewey Decimal Classifications for additional books
which these tools were not able to locate. In total, TCRP was able to classify nearly
6,000 titles. The majority of the remaining books were not classified by the Dewey
Decimal Classification system.
The Dewey Decimal system divides titles into general subject areas, and then
divides those general subjects into more specific topics. Using the Dewey Decimal
Classifications, TCRP was able to determine into which categories the banned
books fall. Each category was then subdivided into smaller “intermediate” subgroups, again using Dewey Decimal Classifications.
When TDCJ censors a book, they record both a general category for denial and a
specific reason justifying censorship of a particular title. In order to better
understand the reasons TDCJ supplied for censoring books, TCRP developed a
more comprehensive set of censorship categories by analyzing this “specific
reason” data. This was facilitated by a combination of keyword-matching software
and human review to categorize censored books as accurately as possible. The
censorship reasons utilized throughout this report are based on these
comprehensive categories.
21

Lastly, the statistical data presented in this report is based on the full list of banned
books (rather than the list of only those books for which a final decision on appeal
has been made), as books on this list will not be received by prisoners.

Banned Books by General Dewey Decimal
Classifications and Reason Banned
2500

2000

1500

Symbols and Translations

1000

Sexually Explicit Images
Criminal Instructions
Fighting Techniques

500

Deviant Sexual Content
Gambling
0
Technology

Social sciences

Science

Religion

Philosophy & psychology

Literature

Language

History & geography

Computer science, information & general works

Arts & recreation

Racial Content
Homosexuality
Manufacturing Drugs or Weapons
Contraband

The largest category, “literature,” is not meaningfully subdivided by the Dewey
Decimal system. (The category is principally broken down by the language the
22

book is written in, and the vast majority of titles are English language books.
Though, in theory, the classification system further subdivides books into other
categories like poetry, drama, satire, etc., in practice these more specific
classifications are rarely utilized because most libraries organize fiction titles by
author’s last name, and not the title’s Dewey classification.) As shown above,
most “literature” titles are censored either for sexual or racial content, while very
few are censored for “manufacturing drugs or weapons” or “criminal information.”

Sub-Categories Within Arts and Recreation
Dewey Classification and Reason Banned
350
300
250
200

Symbols and Translations
Sexually Explicit Images

150

Criminal Instructions
Fighting Techniques

100

Deviant Sexual Behavior
Gambling

50

Racial Content
Homosexuality

23

Sports, games & entertainment

Sculpture, ceramics & metalwork

Photography & computer art

Painting

Music

Graphic arts

Drawing & decorative arts

Arts

Architecture

0

Manufacturing Drugs or Weapons
Contraband

The majority of books in the “arts and recreation” category are titles falling into
the “arts,” “drawing and decorative arts” and “sports and entertainment” subcategories. The majority of the “arts,” “drawing and decorative arts,” “painting”
and “photography and computer art” titles are banned for “sexually explicit
images,” but in reality are “how to” books—titles like Art Class: A Complete
Guide to Painting, Drawing the Head and Figure, and Practical Guide to Painting.
These books are not pornographic, but instructional materials that could improve
prisoners’ skills as artists.
Though TDCJ’s policy prohibits censorship of “educational … [or] artistic
materials” and “artistic reference material,” the chart above shows TDCJ does not
follow its own policy and these books are routinely banned.
Conversely, many of the “sports, games and entertainment” titles are legitimately
denied to prisoners. Many of these titles, such as Kick Boxing: The Essential
Guide to Mastering the Art, and The Canon of Judo are martial arts instructional
materials, which could be a legitimate threat to prison security.

24

Sub-Categories Within History and Geography
Dewey Classification and Reason Banned
100
90
80
70
60
Symbols and Translations

50

Sexually Explicit Images

40

Criminal Schemes

30

Fighting Techniques

20

Deviant Sexual Behavior

10

Gambling
History of South America

History of other areas

History of North America

History of Europe

Racial Content
History of Asia

History of ancient world (to ca. 499)

History of Africa

History

Geography & travel

Biography & genealogy

0

Homosexuality
Manufacturing Drugs or Weapons
Contraband

Within the “history and geography” classification, the most-banned sub-category is
“geography and travel.” Most of the “geography and travel” titles are atlases or
other books containing maps that could theoretically aid in an escape (a “criminal
scheme”).
Conversely, the titles in the “history of North America” category are most often
banned for containing “racial material.” These titles almost exclusively discuss the
history of race relations in the United States, and use racial slurs in a historical
context. Censorship of these titles, including Richard Wright’s 12 Million Black
Voices, is highly suspect, as discussed in more detail below.

25

Sub-Categories Within Philosophy and
Psychology Dewey Classification and Reason
Banned
140
120
100
80

Symbols & Translations
Sexually Explicit Images

60

Fighting Techniques
Criminal Instructions

40

Deviant Sexual Behavior
Gambling

20

Racial Content
Homosexuality
Psychology

Manufacturing Drugs or Weapons
Philosophy

Philosophical schools of thought

Parapsychology & occultism

Logic

Ethics

Epistemology

0

Contraband

Over 120 titles in the “parapsychology and occultism” sub-category of the
“philosophy and psychology” classification are censored. These titles are most
frequently banned for “symbols and translations,” and most discuss Wicca
religious practices and magick. TDCJ’s theory is prisoners could use these
religious symbols as code to “breakdown prisons.” (In the case Mayfield v. TDCJ,
however, a federal appellate court prohibited TDCJ from denying a Norse prisoner
access to “rune-related literature” though TDCJ argued runestones could facilitate
26

“secret communication.”) 20 These religious books are also less often censored for
“sexually explicit” images. These images are typically non-pornographic linedrawings found on tarot cards.

Sub-Categories Within Religion Dewey
Classification and Reason Banned
60
50
40
Symbols and Translations

30

Sexually Explicit Images
Criminal Instructions

20

Fighting Techniques
Deviant Sexual Behavior

10

Gambling
Racial Content
The Bible

Religion

Other religions

History of Christianity

Christianity & Christian theology

Christian practice & observance

Christian organization, social work &

Christian denominations

0

Homosexuality
Manufacturing Drugs or Weapons
Contraband

As in the “philosophy and psychology” classification, many Wicca and other
minority religions texts classified in the “religion” Dewey classification are
censored. “Symbols and translations” are again a popular justification, as are
“deviant sexual behavior” and “sexually Explicit” Images. Very few Christian
religious titles are banned.

27

Sub-Categories Within Social Science Dewey
Classification and Reason Banned
600
500
400
300
Symbols and Translations
200

Sexually Explicit Images
Criminal Schemes

100

Fighting Techniques
Deviant Sexual Behavior
Social sciences, sociology & anthropology

Social problems & social services

Public administration & military science

Political science

Law

Education

Economics

Customs, etiquette & folklore

Commerce, communications & transportation

0

Gambling
Racial Content
Homosexuality
Manufacturing Drugs or Weapons
Contraband

Almost 450 titles in the “Social Problems And Social Services” sub-category are
banned. Many of these books describe the problems that lead to incarceration,
such as drugs, sexual abuse, and crime. Of the 418 titles in this sub-category, 345
fall in the specific “criminology” classification, including books about wrongful
convictions like Tom Wells’ The Wrong Guys: Murder, False Confessions, and the
Norfolk Four.

28

Sub-Categories Within Technology Dewey
Classification and Reason Banned
300
250
200
Symbols and Translations

150

Sexually Explicit Images
Criminal Instructions

100

Fighting Techniques
Deviant Sexual Behavior

50

Gambling
Racial Content
Technology

Medicine & health

Homosexuality
Manufacturing

Manufacture for specific uses

Management & public relations

Home & family management

Engineering

Chemical engineering

Building & construction

Agriculture

0

Manufacturing Drugs or Weapons
Contraband

Within the “technology” Dewey classification, most censored titles call into the
“Medicine And Health” sub-category. The most frequent justification is “Sexually
Explicit Images.” Like the art books discussed above, these titles are frequently
censored erroneously. Titles like Johns Hopkins Family Health Book and
Structure and Function of the Body are “medical/scientific or artistic materials,
including, but not limited to, anatomy medical reference books,” that TDCJ policy
exempts from censorship. In deposition, the MSCP head specifically testified
TDCJ does not censor “medical reference books.” 21 This is plainly not true.
TDCJ’s book banning is clearly far more extensive in practice than its policy
indicates. This raises the question of whether TDCJ really has a coherent policy or
29

pretty much allows its employees to ban books on their whims, which the Courts
have specifically condemned.

30

Individual Titles
Banned Books About Prisoners Rights

Books Critical of the Prison System
TDCJ guidelines state a publication will not be
censored because it “advocates the legitimate use
of the Offender Grievance Procedure, urges
offenders to contact public representatives about
prison conditions or contains criticism of prison
authorities.” TDCJ, however, contrary to what it
says, has banned many publications critical of the
prison system.
The justifications TDCJ uses to censor most
books critical of prison institutions are either
because they discuss illegal sexual behavior, or
because they discuss race relations. This appears
to be pretextual censorship.
One such book is Women Behind Bars: The
Crisis of Women in The U.S. Prison System by
journalist and award-winning author Silja J.A.
Talvi. In her book, she interviews several female
inmates serving long sentences and attempts to
shed light on why there are a growing number of
women doing hard time. Many of these women
are current TDCJ prisoners and criticize the
conditions in TDCJ facilities. These women told
Mr. Talvi about being forced to clean up “fecal
matter” without gloves, and how officers refused
to let them eat because of a minor disciplinary
infraction.22 In the book, women incarcerated by
TDCJ describe being forced to drink unsanitary
water, 23 suffering inadequate medical care, 24 and
eating the equivalent of dog food. 25

31

Black Voices from Prison by Etheridge
Knight
Prison Life in America by Anna Kosof
Stateville: The Penitentiary in Mass
Society by James Jacobs
Life in Prison by Stanley Williams
Doing Time by Amos Brooke
Police Brutality by Jill Nelson
Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s
Prison Empire by Robert Perkinson
Life Sentences: Rage and Survival
Behind Bars by Wilbert Rideau
Icepick: Life and Death in Maximum
Security Prison by Bruce Dobler
In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from
Prison by J.H. Abbott
Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness
Account of Wrongful Executions by
Sister Helen Prejean
Soul Knows No Bars: Inmates Reflect on
Life, Death and Hope by Drew Leder
From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State:
Race and the Death Penalty in America
by Charles Ogletree
I am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain
Gang, Robert Burns
Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power
in America by Kristian Williams
No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons
by Human Rights Watch
White House Boys: An American
Tragedy by Roger Kiser

TDCJ censored the book because one page
contains the following paragraph:
What is even more remarkable about
[Tina] Thomas [a medical doctor
incarcerated in Oklahoma] is that she
had overcome the kind of childhood
trauma that might have completely
derailed her adult life. It might have
been precisely that background that
first propelled her to become an
overachiever and attain a high level of
professional success, but then came
back to haunt her just as she had
gotten to where she wanted to go.
The dark secret of her life was that
she had been forced to perform
fellatio on her uncle when she was
just four years old. Thomas explains
that this unresolved trauma became
“the template for a lifetime of distrust,
fear, uncertainty, and a spirit of selfnegation.”

Banned Books About Prisoners’ Rights
(cont.)
Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of
Women in the U.S. Prison System by
Silja J.A. Talvi
Lockdown America: Police and Prisons
in the Age of Crisis by Christian Parenti
Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How
America Profits from Crime by Joel Dyer
Prison Masculinities ed. Terry Kupers,
Don Sabo, Willie London
The Wrong Guys: Murder, False
Confessions and the Norfolk Four by
Tom Wells
Texas Death Row by Ken Light
Surviving in Prison by Harold Long
State Boys’ Rebellion by Michael
D’Antonio

The TDCJ prisoners whom Ms. Talvi interviewed for her book could not actually
read their own stories. After the book was published, the prisoners ordered copies,
but TDCJ banned the book because of the “sex with a minor” Ms. Thomas
described above.
When she learned about the censorship, Ms. Talvi said, “I personally find it
shocking and disheartening that a woman’s bravery in the re-telling of her own
trauma—something she intended to be able to help other readers connect with and
thereby recognize the very factors that may have led them to a path of
criminality—has resulted in wholesale censorship of my book.”

32

Professor Robert Perkinson’s history of TDCJ, Texas
Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire, is censored
for a virtually identical passage.
Prof. Perkinson
interviews a woman who was recently paroled, and is
struggling with life on the “outside.” During the
interview, the woman reveals she was also sexually
assaulted by her uncle when she was four years old. He
uncle forced her to stand naked on a stool in front of a
window and
[T]old “his special little girl not to cry.” Then he
raped her. “I clung to those curtains with little
white knuckles,” she says. “I looked down and I
remember that blood was on my legs and my
pretty white socks and on my shoes.” Afterward,
she explains, she became just like those curtains:
“ugly, no feeling, just hanging there.” 26
Prof. Perkinson goes on to note women prisoners “are
more than three times as likely to have been violently
victimized as children or adults.” 27
TDCJ censors a number of titles that discuss prison rape.
Joel Dyer’s Perpetual Prisoner Machine is banned
because it quotes a 1968 report of the Philadelphia
District Attorney’s Office discussing the prevalence of
prison rape in the local jails. The book explains the
report found “virtually every slightly built young man
committed to jail by the courts … is sexually approached
within hours of his admission to prison. Many young
men are overwhelmed and repeatedly ‘raped’ [sic] by
gangs of inmate aggressors.”
Likewise, Prison Masculinities, edited by Dr. Terry
Kupers, M.D., Don Sabo, and Willie London, is banned
because passages on pages 128-131 discuss prisoner
33

IP .rpetual
Prisoner
M ehn.
Jo'el Dyer
1'WLk. ~I J,~

II

~

rape. A prisoner describes how he was “humiliated
telling anyone about” being sexually assaulted, and how
he underwent “torture scenes” at the hands of fellow
prisoners.28 The book’s editor, Dr. Kupers, an expert in
prison mental health care, included the passage as an
“illustrat[ion of] the kind of prisoner orientation and
education that is mandated by federal law – i.e. the
Prison Rape Elimination Act signed into law by President
[George W.] Bush in 2003.” According to Dr. Kupers,
“the material in Prison Masculinities is designed to
facilitate peaceful, smooth operations of the prisons and
contribute to the rehabilitation of prisoners.”
TDCJ officials have testified they would even censor
government documents that discuss prison rape.29
Though TDCJ censors these books for relatively mild
descriptions of child sexual abuse, TDCJ does not censor
classic literature like Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita 30 and
Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, 31 which vividly
describe the narrators’ sexual attraction to children.
Similarly, TDCJ also does not censor perhaps the bestknown prison rape scene in popular literature, Stephen
King’s Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.32
This clearly calls into question TDCJ’s motivation for
banning books critical of prisons.
TDCJ censors Christian Parenti’s Lockdown America:
Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis because page 206
is “racial,” and allegedly “contributes to the breakdown
of prisons.” The sentence to which TDCJ objects reads:
“Another group of screws [guards] at the California
Institution for Men at Chino called itself SPONGE, a
disgusting acronym for the equally disgusting name,
‘Society for the Prevention of Niggers Getting
Everything.’” 33 Though the book clearly does not
34

encourage or advocate racial violence, TDCJ bans it
because it was allegedly “written solely for the purpose of
communicating information designed to achieve the
breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as
strikes [or] riots.”
Mr. Parenti disagrees that anyone, much less the
“reasonable person” required by TDCJ’s policy, could
think his book encourages racial violence. “There is
absolutely nothing in the book that could even be
construed as posing a threat to security in prison. I did not
write the book to cause a ‘breakdown of prisons,’ and that
is certainly not the ‘sole’ intent of my book. My goal was
to examine prison institutions critically, and to discuss the
problems associated with incarceration in America.”
Many books about prison conditions containing racial
slurs, even when the slurs are used in an anti-racist context,
are censored. For example, George Jackson’s Soledad
Brother was banned because the author, a member of the
Black Panthers, argued “I’m always telling the brothers
some of those whites are willing to work with us against
-;;;;;"I
the pigs. All they got to do is stop talking honky. When
the races start fighting, all you have is one maniac group against another.”
Because Jackson uses the invidious racial slur “honky” TDCJ banned the book.

---,-

Other examples of prison criticism censored by TDCJ includes books by two
Nobel Peace Prize nominees (The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of
Wrongful Executions by Sister Helen Prejean, and Prison Life by Stanley
Williams), and a Harvard law professor (From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State:
Race and the Death Penalty in America by Charles Ogletree). TDCJ also bans one
of the most influential prison reform books ever written, I am a Fugitive from a
Georgia Chain Gang, by Robert Burns.

35

Banned Books About Civil Rights

Books About Civil Rights
Like books about prison conditions, books
discussing civil rights and the civil rights
movement are frequent targets for TDCJ
censorship.
As in Lockdown America and
Soledad Brother, isolated use of racial slurs in a
historical context is enough pretext for TDCJ to
ban a book.
For years, TCRP has given Kevin Boyle’s The
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and
Murder in the Jazz Age to volunteers to thank
them for their service. The book, the story of
Clarence Darrow’s defense of an African
American doctor accused of murdering a person
in a mob which attacked his home, is banned for
“racial content” on pages 40-41. Boyle describes
a mob gathering outside the doctor’s home:
“Someone spotted three colored men trapped in
traffic at Charlevoix and St. Clair Avenue, a
block east of the bungalow. ‘There goes some
niggers now,’ came the cries. ‘Lynch them! Kill
them!’ A gang of white men surged toward the
car…”
Boyle is a history professor at the Ohio State
University, and a fellow of the National
Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim
Foundation, and the American Council of
Learned Societies. An author’s note on the first
page of the book states he often uses “the now
antiquated terms ‘Negro’ and ‘colored’” in the
book because these “terms [were] common in the
1920s.” “By that choice, I mean no disrespect to
the subjects of the book or to present-day
36

History of Black America by Howard
Lindsey
Politics of Rage: George Wallace and
the Origins of New Conservatism by
Dan T. Carter
Race: How Blacks and Whites Feel
About the American Obsession by
Studs Terkel
Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle
Klanwatch: Bringing the Ku Klux Klan
to Justice by Bill Staton
Eldridge Cleaver: Ice and Fire by Otis
George
Black Eyed Susans: Midnight Bird
Stories by and About Black Women by
Mary Helen Washington
Gathering Storm: America's Militia
Threat by Morris Dees
Selma, 1965: The March that Changed
the South by Charles Fager
Narrative of Sojourner Truth by
Sojourner Truth
Our Kind of People: Inside America's
Black Upper Class by Lawrence Otis
Graham
Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce
Rebellion by Stephen Oates
Finding Oprah's Roots, Finding Your
Own by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
An Original Man: The Life and Times of
Elijah Muhammad by Claude Andrew
Clegg
Go Tell Pharoah: The Autobiography of
the Rev. Al Sharpton by Al Sharpton
Chomsky on Anarchism by Noam
Chomsky

readers.” In fact, he used the term “African
Americans” in early drafts of the book, but
changed the text because editors told him
“African American” did not fit the context. Arc
of Justice won the National Book Award in 2005,
the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize, the
Simon Weisenthal Center’s Tolerance Book
Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
No “reasonable person” could possibly think the
book was written to promote racial hatred.
Noam Chomsky is a noted cultural critic,
professor at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and father of modern linguistics.
TDCJ bans his book, Chomsky on Anarchism,
because a passage discusses free speech rights.
“[V]ictories for freedom of speech are often won
in defense of the most depraved and horrendous
views. The 1969 Supreme Court decision was in
defense of the Ku Klux Klan from prosecution
after meeting with hooded figures, guns, and a
burning cross, calling for ‘burying the nigger,’
and ‘sending the Jews back to Israel.’ With
regard to freedom of speech there are basically
two positions: you defend it vigorously for views
you hate, or you reject it …” Though Prof.
Chomsky decries racial slurs as “depraved and
horrendous,” TDCJ inexplicably bans his book.
If TDCJ could censor a book for a single use of
the word “nigger,” there are 25 opinions of the
U.S. Supreme Court and 92 opinions of the U.S.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals prisoners could
not read.

37

Banned Books About Civil Rights
(cont.)
Never Too Late: A Prosecutor's Story of
Justice in the Medger Evers Case by
Bobby DeLaughter
Getting Away with Murder: The True
Story of the Emmitt Till Case by Chris
Crowe
A Death in Texas by Dina Temple
Raston
Thurgood Marshall: American
Revolutionary by Juan Williams
New Perspectives on Race and Slavery
in America by Robert Abzub
Slavery and the Making of America by
James Oliver Horton
We Shall Overcome: The History of the
Civil Rights Movement as it Happened
by Herb Boyd
My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices
of the Civil Rights Experience by Juan
Williams
We Are Not Afraid: The Story of
Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney and
the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi
by Seth Cagin
Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and
Fall of Jack Johnson by Geoffrey Ward
Invented Lives: Narratives of Black
Women 1860-1960 by Mary Helen
Washington
Our Town: A Heartland Lynching, A
Haunted Town, and the Hidden History
of White America by Cynthia Carr
Huey: Spirit of the Panther by David
Hilliard
Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in
Jasper, Texas by Joyce King

TDCJ censors books by current and former National
Public Radio correspondents (Juan Williams’ Thurgood
Marshall: American Revolutionary and My Soul Looks
Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience,
and Dina Temple Raston’s A Death in Texas: A Story of
Race, Murder and a Small Town’s Struggle for
Redemption), a prominent Harvard professor (Henry Louis
Gates, Jr.’s Finding Oprah’s Roots, Finding Your Own),
famous abolitionists (Harriet Beecher Stowe and
Sojourner Truth), Pulitzer Prize winners (Studs Terkel’s

A

JUST C

Race: How Blacks and Whites Feel About the American
Obsession), the founder of the Southern Poverty Law
Center (Morris Dees’ Gathering Storm: America's
Militia Threat), and current civil rights leaders (Al
Sharpton’s autobiography, Go Tell Pharoah). Even
acclaimed titles about sports, like H.G. Bissinger’s Texas
high school football classic, Friday Night Lights, and
Roger Kahn’s history of Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn
Dodgers, The Boys of Summer, are censored for HE Y
discussing race.
loms
GAT· .JR.

Of course, the bizarre irony of censoring so many books
about the history of civil rights in the United States is
TDCJ allows prisoners to read many of the most vile,
racist books ever written. If a prisoner ordered Adolph
Hitler’s Mein Kampf or National Socialism and World
Relations, or David Duke’s Jewish Supremacism or My
Awakening, or the anti-semitic “classic” Protocols of the
Elders of Zion, or the Nazi Aryan Youth Primer: Official
Handbook for Schooling the Hitler Youth, or The Hitler
We Loved and Why, they would receive it.
When reviewing these books, TDCJ employees appear
to be looking for “magic words” rather than examining
the context the words appear in. In Soledad Brother, for
38

'OF~

example, the words “honky” and “whitey” appear on page xxiii of the introduction.
When mailroom workers find a reason to censor a book, they need not read the rest
of the text. Therefore, TDCJ’s system encourages its employees to quickly
identify a reason to censor a book to avoid reading the rest of the book. TDCJ
denies using “magic words” or censoring books solely based on the use of racial
slurs, but it is difficult to imagine why else it prohibits Arc of Justice and Chomsky
on Anarchism.
Similarly, TDCJ encourages mailroom employees to ban a book if they are unsure
about allowing a prisoner to read it.34 TDCJ thus presumes a book should be
censored. Because of the wholly ineffective appeals system, once a book has been
initially denied, it is extremely difficult to get the book off the banned list.
As with the books about prison conditions, however, the true failure is TDCJ’s
inability to take isolated passages in context. Though Juan Williams might use a
racial slur to show the tyranny of the Jim Crow system against which Thurgood
Marshall fought, it hardly means the prominent African American commentator for
Fox News sought to sow racial hatred in his biography of the first African
American Supreme Court Justice.

39

Classic Literature

Banned Literary Classics

TDCJ prohibits dozens of books by literary
giants. Authors whose names appear on the
banned books list could comprise an English
major’s syllabus.

Shakespeare and Love Sonnets ed. O.B.
Duane

TDCJ censors a collection of plays and sonnets
by the most famous English writer, William
Shakespeare.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Pulitzer Prize winners with a censored book
include Jeffrey Eugenides, Philip Roth, Annie
Proulx, John Updike, Alice Walker, Norman
Mailer, Wallace Stegner, Robert Penn Warren,
Art Spiegleman, and Sinclair Lewis. TDCJ also
bans Pulitzer finalists Joyce Carol Oates, and Tim
O’Brien.

Couples by John Updike

TDCJ prohibits books by two winners of the
Nobel Prize for Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa
and Sinclair Lewis.

The Inferno by Dante Aligheri
Vintage Hughes by Langston Hughes

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Big Sur by Jack Keroac
Satanic Verses by Salmon Rushdie
Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut
Myra Breckinridge by Gore Vidal
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
Live from Golgotha by Gore Vidal
Great American Novel by Philip Roth
Deer Park by Norman Mailer

Important sociological works like Marshall
McLuhan’s The Medium is the Message, Jacob
Riis’ How the Other Half Lives and Alex
Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here and The
Other Side of the River are disallowed.

There Are No Children Here by Alex
Kotlowitz

TDCJ even censors Burmese Days, a book by one
of the world’s best known critics of censorship
and totalitarian government, George Orwell.

Segregation: The Inner Conflict by
Robert Penn Warren

The vast majority of these books are censored
because they address serious, recurring
sociological themes like race and sex. For
example, in Philip Roth’s The Human Stain, the
main character works to hide his African
40

War and Peace in the Global Village by
Marshall McLuhan
The Medium is the Message by
Marshall McLuhan

Burmese Days by George Orwell
Three Great Tales: Heart of Darkness,
Typhoon, Nigger of the Narcissus by
Joseph Conrad
Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
Notebooks of Don Rigoberto by Mario
Vargas Llosa

American ancestry to “pass” in white society.
TDCJ bans the book because Roth’s character
opines “in the segregated South there were no
separate identities … No such subtleties allowed,
and the impact was devastating. Nigger—and it
meant him.” Roth’s novel is a serious work,
addressing intractable American dilemmas, not a
racist polemic. The works of some of the finest
African American authors, like Richard Wright
and Langston Hughes, are banned for frank
discussions of race. The context of these works,
however, is irrelevant to TDCJ censors.
Like the theocratic government of Iran, TDCJ
censors Salmon Rushdie’s Satanic Verse. Page
461 is censored for the passage “Low-cost highrise housing enfolds him. Nigger eat white
man’s shit, suggest the unoriginal walls. The
buildings have names: ‘Isandhlwana’, ‘Rork’s
drift’. But a revisionist enterprise is underway,
for two of the four towers have been renamed,
and bear, now, the names ‘Mandela’ and
‘Toussaint l’Ouverture’.
… He stands
motionless while small groups of residents rush
past in different directions. Some (not all) are
carrying weapons. Clubs, bottles, knives. All of
the groups contain white youngsters as well as
black. He raises his trumpet to his lips and
begins to play.”
Rushdie’s work hardly
encourages racial violence.
Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winner, The Color
Purple, is censored for describing the pain a
child feels after an actual incestuous encounter.
“He start to choke me, saying You better shut up
41

Literary Classics (cont.)
First Love by Joyce Carol Oates
Eight Men by Richard Wright
Villagers by John Updike
Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in
Portland, Oregon by Chuck Palahniuk
Twelve Million Black Voices by Richard
Wright
Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a
Young %@#* by Art Spiegelman
Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace
Stenger
Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert
Delta of Venis by Anais Nin
Utopia by Thomas Moore
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Way to Paradise by Mario Vargas
Llosa
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Hooking Up by Tom Wolfe
Everything that Rises Must Converge by
Flannery O'Connor
The Human Stain by Philip Roth
A Contract with God by Will Eisner
Fanny Hill by John Cleland
Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis
The Autobiography of Miss Jane
Pittman by Ernest Gaines, Jr.
The Essential Gore Vidal by Gore Vidal

and git used to it. But I don’t never git used to it. And now
I feels sick every time I be the one to cook. My mama she
fuss at me an look at me. She happy, cause he good to her
now. But too sick to last long.” After its publication, the
book was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film by Steven
Spielberg, staring Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and
Danny Glover. Oprah, a victim of child sexual abuse
herself, described the book as “a powerful force in my life”
and said she was “blessed … to know [The Color Purple]
will reach a whole new generation and an even wider
audience” when she produced the Broadway play based on
the novel.35

THE SEW I'ORK TIMES BEST El LER

John
Updike

~

CO U

Flannery O’Connor, the Southern Gothic novelist, has a
banned book on this list: her short story collection
Everything that Rises Must Converge. Mysteriously, the
complete collection of her short stories, The Complete
Stories, which includes every story in Everything that Rises
Must Converge, is not banned.
Several classics are banned not because of their text, but
because of the images on their covers. TDCJ censors
Shakespeare, Updike, Vargas Llosa, Gustave Flaubert, and
Norman Mailer because of cover art. O.B. Duane’s
collection of Shakespearian sonnets has a Renaissance-era
painting of a nude Cupid sitting in a woman’s lap. The
cover of Updike’s Couples is a line drawing of a nude man
and woman that resembles classical Greek statuary. Vargas
Llosa’s The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto has an
impressionist painting of a nude woman on the cover.
Flaubert’s Salammabo, a historical novel set in Carthage
after the First Punic War, uses Czech painter Alphonse
Mucha’s painting of the title heroine as the cover. None of
these images are pornographic “sexually explicit images”
TDCJ’s policy is designed to exclude.
42

(J(IIDQ

.tul

.--

m.ll TRATEO POETRY ANTHOLOGY

Popular Authors

Banned Books by Popular Authors

The banned books list is filled with names of
some of the most popular authors writing today.
John Grisham, Stephen King, James Patterson,
Dean Koontz, Dan Brown, Anne Rice, Tom
Clancy, and Jodi Picoult have all had books
censored by TDCJ.
Like the classic literature TDCJ censors, the vast
majority of the books by popular authors are
prohibited because of sexual or racial content.
Pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman’s novel,
Downtown Owl, is a semi-autobiographical
account of growing up in rural North Dakota. In
the novel, the high school football coach is forced
to resign for getting a student pregnant. “[Coach]
Laidlaw was lying completely. The reason John,
Sarah, and four-year-old Lawrence Laidlaw were
about to leave Williston was because a
seventeen-year-old girl named Doris Stahl was—
at that very moment—driving to Montana to
abort the child he had planted in her gut, a detail
everyone in Williston (except Sarah) seemed to
suspect. The Williston High superintendant had
made Laidlaw’s career options very clear; John
selected option C, which was the only one that
did not involve contacting a lawyer.” The
passage is non-graphic, and certainly does not
glorify or endorse Coach Laidlaw’s behavior.
Leon Uris’ The Haj, a historical account of the
partition of Palestine, is banned for “indecency
with a child.” The book’s narrator recounts how,
when he was a small child, his father “took as his
second wife Ramiza, who as the youngest
43

A Time to Kill by John Grisham
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Exit to Eden by Anne Rice
Without Remorse by Tom Clancy
Firefly by Piers Anthony
Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
For Love of Evil by Piers Anthony
Macroscope by Piers Anthony
Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
The Funhouse by Dean Koontz
Gerald's Game by Stephen King
The Haj by Leon Uris
In The Heat of The Night by John Ball
When the Women Come Out to Dance
by Elmore Leonard
The Big Bounce by Elmore Leonard
The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett
Running from the Law by Lisa Scottoline
Fried Green Tomatoes at the
Whistlestop Café by Fannie Flagg
The Last Juror by John Grisham
The Day America Told the Truth by
James Patterson
Running with Scissors by Augusten
Burroughs
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

daughter of Sheik Walid Azziz, chief of the
Palestinian Wahhabi Bedouin tribe. The great
sheik was my father’s uncle, so his new wife was
also his first cousin. She was sixteen and my
father was almost fifty. … I slept with my
mother, folded up in her arms, my head between
her breasts. When my father and Ramiza made
love every night, my mother lay awake, only a
few feet from them, forced to listen to them have
sex.” The narrator goes on to describe how
pained his mother was to know his father had
taken a much younger second wife. Like
Downtown Owl, this account is hardly
pornographic or titillating.
All these titles are available in most every airport
book store, and most high school libraries. They
are far from incendiary, and are part of
mainstream American culture.

Banned Books by Popular Authors
(cont.)
Violets are Blue by James Patterson
Second Chance by James Patterson
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
The Chamber by John Grisham
Valdez is Coming by Elmore Leonard
Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard
Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Phthor by Piers Anthony
Midnight Graffitti by Stephen King
It by Stephen King
M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang
Beauty Release by Anne Rice
Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins
Bag of Bones by Stephen King
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Pact by Jodi Picoult
Pure by Anne Geddes
Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
World Without End by Ken Follett
Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman
Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger
Prayer for the City, H.B. Bissinger
Death Before Dishonor, 50 Cent

44

Denial for security reasons
There are certainly some books TDCJ can
constitutionally censor. TDCJ censors a large number
of books about electrical systems, for example, which
could be used to facilitate an escape. Similarly, some
issues of National Geographic and atlases are censored
for containing maps of Texas. According to the DRC,
geographical and political maps constitute a security
threat, presumably because they could help an escaped
prisoner navigate to safety.
However, even when dealing with books that it could
legitimately censored, TDCJ makes bizarre decisions.
For example, official U.S. Army manuals published by
the Department of Defense on counter-guerrilla and
counter-insurgency, which, among other things, contain
combat strategy and tactics for fighting small, loosely
organized groups were approved. Likewise, famed
communist insurgent Che Guevara’s detailed
description of how to carry out hit-and-run tactics,
Guerrilla Warfare is approved for prisoners to read.
Guevara’s instruction manual, even includes
instructions about how to make a Molotov cocktail and
a diagram showing how to create a mortar.
Guns Illustrated, a publication that gives information
on the latest guns, including specs and prices for
thousands of revolvers, rifles and shotguns, was also
approved. But other publications such as Guns and
Ammo, Hunting, Shooting Times, and Handguns were
disallowed in the very same month.
TDCJ’s censorship exuberance also excludes books
where no reasonable person could actually believe the
text would contribute to a breakdown in prison
45

security. Tim Pat Coogan’s book on the Irish
Republican Army, The IRA, is one of the leading
accounts of “The Troubles” in Ireland. One chapter
discusses the conditions IRA prisoners faced in
British jails. TDCJ bans the book because page 403
discusses “escape.” Two famous IRA escape
attempts are described on the page: one where
prisoners “[got] away using knotted blankets and
sheets,” and another where prisoners aboard a
British prison boat escaped by “following the
example of a seal” and swimming through a gap in
the barb wire that surrounded the boat. Neither
scenario could facilitate an escape from TDCJ
facilities, as TDCJ does not utilize prison ships.
Similarly, using bedsheets to make a rope ladder is
hardly novel—popular cartoon characters like Daffy
Duck, Tom and Jerry, and Mickey Mouse have also
used the technique.

ADAPTATION OP TBE "MOLOTOV
cxx:rI'AILPO TO A RiFLE •

Guerrilla Warfare (1998, Univ. Nebraska
Press Ed.), p. 61

46

Denials of “sexually explicit images”
TDCJ may prohibit a publication if “it contains sexually explicit images.” TDCJ’s
policy specifically excludes “educational, medical/scientific or artistic materials,
including, but not limited to, anatomy medical reference books, general
practitioner reference, books and/or guides, National Geographic or artistic
reference material depicting historical, modern and/or post modem era art.”
Despite this exclusion, TDCJ prohibits numerous non-pornographic texts for
containing allegedly “sexually explicit images.” Dozens of “how to draw” books
are censored, as are numerous art history texts, including the works of
Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Toulouse-Lautrec, Salvador Dali,
Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, and Andy Warhol.
History books with pictures of refugees escaping conflict are deemed “sexually
explicit.” Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore’s Vietnam memoir, We Were Soldiers Once
… And Young, includes several photographs from his wartime experience. One
shows an American army
medic treating a nude, injured
Vietnamese child. Due to the
nature and quality of the
photograph, it is very difficult
to describe it as “sexually
explicit.” TDCJ also bans
history books by former
Senator Bob Dole and a
collection prepared for the
United
States
Holocaust
Memorial Museum for reprinting “sexually explicit
We Were Soldiers Once And Young p. 234D
images.”
TDCJ also censors political satire. In Jon Stewart’s lampoon of civics textbooks,
America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, the comedian
includes “nude photos” of Supreme Court justices in a “Dress the Supreme Court”
section. Each “nude photo” shows a headshot of the justices interposed on another
47

person’s nude body. The
_... ... . --adjacent page invites readers _....--to cut out robes and “restore
their dignity by matching
each justice with his or her
respective robe.”
The
book’s publisher told USA
Today, “One reviewer called
it 'the most profound part of
the book.' I don't know about
America: The Book p. 98-99
that, but it makes some kind of
comment: Who are these
justices when they're stripped
of their robes? They're just like
America: The Book p. 98-99 1
all these other saggy people. ...
A robe doesn't the man make
— or the woman.”

-_-----------_

An excellent example of the
TDCJ censor’s zeal is Hunter
S. Thompson’s Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas—the
book is banned for a sexually
explicit image, reproduced to
the right. If this sketch is the
type of image TDCJ needs to
ban to enhance prison security,
it will need to confiscate pens
and paper from every inmate
as most kindergartners could
re-create a similarly crude
drawing.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, p. 198

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, p. 198 1

TDCJ’s policy does recognize
some photos of naked people
Dog's Best Friend, p. 87

48

are not to titillate.
Issues of National
Geographic, for example, are not banned
because, according to the MSCP chair, “tribal
women who do not wear clothes and that’s
their culture.” 36
Despite the National
Geographic exclusion, many actual National
Geographic publications, such as National
Geographic: 100 Days in Photographs,
Pivotal Events that Changed the World and
National Geographic Photographs are on the
permanently banned list. Other anthropology
texts, such as Ursual Birr’s Dog’s Best
Friend, a history of the domestication of dogs,
and Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
Plate 28 A group of p)'gmies from the lluri forest of equatorial AfriCl1.

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human
Societies, are prohibited solely because of a
partially nude picture of a “tribal woman.”
Though the MSCP chair testified TDCJ
would not censor “medical reference books,”
the Johns Hopkins Family Health Book is
permanently banned.

Guns, Germs and Steel, plate 28

Though TDCJ censors these works of art,
history, satire and journalism, it still allows
prisoners to read magazines with semi-nude
pictures of women, like FHM 100 Sexiest
Women in the World, Swimsuit International,
Swimwear Illustrated, Bachelor’s Beat,
Bikini, Bikini Girls, and Hombre.
Like many other parts of the censorship Hombre magazine
policy, TDCJ employees fail to apply the
“sexually explicit image” requirement with even a modicum of common sense or
logic.

49

Self-Help/Rehabilitation Titles

Banned Rehabilitation Titles

TDCJ censors a number of books that do not
encourage “deviant, criminal sexual behavior,”
but, in fact, in the most explicit way possible,
discourage illegal sexual conduct. These titles are
self-help books designed to help victims of sexual
abuse overcome the trauma in their lives that may
have led them to victimize others.
Rus Ervin Funk is the founder of Men Can Stop
Rape, a Washington-based non-profit organization
that “mobilizes male youth to prevent men’s
violence against women.” His book, Stopping
Rape: A Challenge for Men, is the first book
written by a man for men about rape prevention.
Despite its strong anti-rape message, TDCJ has
banned it for a description of “rape.”

Stopping Rape: A Challenge for Men
by Rus Ervin Frank
Why Me? Help for Victims of Child
Sexual Abuse Even if They Are Adults
Now by Lynn Daugherty
Men Who Rape by A. Nicholas Groth
Handbook of Clinical Intervention in
Child Abuse by Suzanne Sgroi, M.D.
Refusing to be a Man: Essays on Sex
and Justice by John Stoltenberg
Too Scared to Cry: Psychic Trauma in
Childhood by Lenore Terr
Conspiracy of Silence: The Trauma of
Incest by Sandra Butler
Male on Male Rape: The Hidden Toll
of Stigma and Shame by Michael
Scarce

Sandra Butler’s Conspiracy of Silence: The
Trauma of Incest is prohibited because it discusses
statistics about incest: “In a study conducted in
Minneapolis, 75 percent of women working as
prostitutes were found to have been victims of
incestuous assault.” In another censored passage,
an incest survivor remembers how her stepfather
“forced me to have intercourse with him.”

Startling Beauty: My Journey From
Rape to Restoration by Heather
Gemmen

Like the titles that discuss prison rape, these books
frankly confront a problem many prisoners are
familiar with and victims of. The books either
encourage prisoners to end their violent sexual
behavior, or help heal from the abuse they
suffered.

I Never Told Anyone: Writing by
Women Survivors of Sexual Abuse by
Ellen Bass

50

Confronting Rape and Sexual Assault
by Mary Oden
Child Sexual Abuse: Hope for the
Healing by Maxine Hancock
Healing Victims of Sexual Abuse by
Paula Sandford

Conclusion
As a whole, while the TDCJ rules are reasonable, the problems lay in the
application of these rules. TDCJ policies allow for review of individual
publications on the basis of stated criteria. The spirit of the rules is to allow state
officials the flexibility to allow prisoners access to literary and educational
material, while maintaining the ability to censor materials that would pose a
genuine threat to prison security. However, a consequence of this discretion is
many arbitrary, unreasonable, and astonishing decisions, as well as regular
inconsistencies, largely because material is twisted entirely out of context.
The inconsistencies in DRC and MSCP rulings indicate a lack of the contextual
consideration that state procedure is obviously attempting to promote by providing
rules for review of individual cases. Prisoners are often denied popular
publications that few (if any) people in the general public or typical jail and prison
administrators would find objectionable.
There are severe problems with the appeals process as well. Prisoners surveyed in
2008-2009 by the Inside Books Project almost universally expressed ignorance as
to how the appeals process worked, despite unit mailroom officials’ obligation to
explain the process to them. Any appeals process that is inscrutable by the people
that it is intended to serve does not protect their right of access.
Moreover, TDCJ’s practice of only allowing one appeal per title makes the process
virtually useless. Prisoners bring the vast majority of appeals. The prisoner has
never seen the publication, and thus cannot formulate an intelligent appeal. The
prisoner doesn’t know what context any potentially “objectionable” content
appears in, or, given the paucity of explanation on the form given them by the
mailroom, what the content is.
Similarly, a publisher or large bookseller (like Amazon.com) has little interest in
making sure prisoners have access to their books and magazines—prisoners are a
relatively small market and it is not in the publishers’ economic interests to pursue
the appeals.
The sender of the book, however, has a strong interest in making sure the prisoner
gets the publication, and the ability to review the publication to write an intelligent
51

appeal. Unless this sender is the first person to mail the book to TDCJ, however,
the sender is barred from appealing because of previous rulings by TDCJ.
TDCJ certainly has the need to censor some books—there is no legitimate reason
to allow prisoners to read The Anarchist Cookbook, for example. 37 The actual
censorship decisions TDCJ makes, however, are extremely arbitrary. There is no
legitimate reason prisoners should not be able to read books about prison
conditions, books critical of racism that incidentally use slurs, or books so
acclaimed by the public they have topped best-sellers lists or been recognized with
the highest honors available to literature.
Prisoners do not shed all their constitutional rights at the prison gates. Rather than
unlawfully censor books, TDCJ should encourage prisoners to read. There is
perhaps no better way to ensure they will become productive citizens on their
release.

52

About the Texas Civil Rights Project
The Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP) promotes racial, social, and economic
justice through education and litigation. TCRP strives to foster equality, secure
justice, ensure diversity, and strengthen communities. Since its beginning, TCRP
has achieved substantial system gains in ensuring justice for all Texans. TCRP uses
education and litigation to make structural change in areas such as voting rights,
police and border patrol misconduct, sex discrimination, employment bias, privacy,
disability rights, grand jury discrimination, traditional civil liberties (i.e. free
speech), and Title IX in secondary education.
TCRP was founded in 1990 as part of Oficina Legal del Pueblo Unido, a non-profit
community-based foundation in South Texas. Oficina Legal del Pueblo Unido,
Inc., started in 1978 as a community, grassroots foundation to provide legal
assistance and education, without cost, to low-income people, particularly minority
persons and individuals victimized by discrimination.
TCRP began with an unpaid staff of two in the Austin Peace Building (an attorney
and an office manager). Within a few months, TCRP was able to hire an attorney
for its South Texas office. TCRP now has offices in Austin, San Juan, Odessa, and
El Paso, and a staff of more than 35 people.
For 20 years, the Texas Civil Rights Project has been a tireless advocate for racial,
social and economic equality in Texas, through its education and litigation
programs.
Some of the achievements we are most proud of:
* Handled more than 2000 cases
* Published eight Human Rights reports on issues such as hate crimes and the
death penalty
53

* Compiled five “self-help” manuals
* Published 300 opinion editorials in Texas newspapers
* Given 250 speeches and talks on civil rights
* Conducted community and lawyer trainings for more than 22,000 persons.
The South Texas Project has worked steadfastly to extend equal rights to farm
laborers and colonia residents in the Rio Grande Valley, and improve their living
and working conditions.
__________________________
We have sued over every kind of misconduct in every part of Texas — city police,
sheriff deputies, Department of Public Safety officers, and Border Patrol agents.
Because of our work, jails in Hidalgo, El Paso, Henderson, Tom Green,
Williamson, Travis, Bexar, Dallas, and Brown Counties do much more now in
preventing inmate suicide, providing interpreters for deaf prisoners, protecting
vulnerable inmates from sexual assault, administering HIV medications, and
making them accessible for inmates with disabilities.
TCRP set the national model in ballot accessibility for blind voters and has led
more than two dozen regional compliance campaigns in Texas under the
Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Thanks to the efforts of our staff,
churches and courthouses in Texas are much more accessible to elderly and
disabled people – and government more accountable.
We have pioneered a unique “circuit-rider” outreach program in west and south
rural Texas for abused and undocumented spouses under the Violence against
Women Act (VAWA).
And we have prodded the Texas Supreme Court to improve pro bono services for
poor and low-income families in the state, 90% of whom have unmet legal needs
each year.
Our Title IX educational and litigation programs on sexual harassment, bullying,
and equal sports opportunities have helped make rural middle schools and high

54

schools more hospitable for young women. Our work has also opened up the
prospect of athletic scholarships to college for them.
Our “Equality under the Law” campaign has addressed “benign” discrimination
against African Americans and Hispanic Americans in banks, restaurants, motels,
and other places of public accommodation.
Our efforts to help South Asian, Muslim, and Arab citizens, permanent residents,
and students who fell victim to post September 11 discrimination have included
filing a suit against a major airline, and enlisting Texas attorneys to represent, on a
pro bono basis, individuals who were questioned by the FBI.
We worked with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
(MALDEF) to help create single-member school board districts in Del Valle ISD
and assisted in redistricting the Texas Legislature and Texas Congressional so as to
protect the voting and representational rights of minority citizens.
We assisted the NAACP in bringing the U.S. Department of Justice to review
Austin Police Department policies and make changes to APD’s use of force
practices in minority communities.
We joined with the American Jewish Congress in one of the first court cases in the
country to challenge the constitutionality of government funding of a religiously
orientated job-training program that used the Bible as a text and proselytized
among its trainees.
We are a leading voice in raising questions about the fairness of Texas' death
penalty scheme, and the possibilities of executing innocent people. So, too, are we
an intrepid advocate of traditional civil liberties, such as free speech and assembly,
due process, and equal protection under the United States and Texas Constitutions.
History of Oficina Legal del Pueblo Unido, Inc. and The Texas Civil Rights
Project, available at http://www.texascivilrightsproject.org/about/history.htm

55

Endnotes
1

Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 77 (1987).

2

Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 408 (1974).

3

Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401, 408 (1989).

4

Id. at 409.

5

Id. at 414.

6

Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 415 (1974).

7

Guajardo v. Estelle, 580 F.2d 748, 762 (5th Cir. 1978).

8

Id.

9

TDCJ Board Policy 03.91.

10

Deposition of Jennifer Smith in Prison Legal News v. Livingston, No. 2:09-cv00296 (S.D. Tex. – Corpus Christi 2009), pp. 34:2-15 (no criteria for material
related to “offender disruption”); 37:4-12 (no definition of “deviant criminal
sexual behavior”); 38:12-17 (no definition of “criminal scheme”). As discussed
above in the text, there is additional material defining “sexually explicit image.”
The MSCP applies some informal criteria about when to censor books. For
example, the MSCP will permit prisoners to read an art book that includes a
painting of a naked cherub showing the cherub’s genitals, but not a similar
painting of a naked child. Id., p. 54:1-18.

11

Deposition of Evelyn Brown, in Prison Legal News v. Livingston, No. 2:09-cv00296 (S.D. Tex. – Corpus Christi 2009), p. 10:12-21; Deposition of Michayel
Smith, in Prison Legal News v. Livingston, No. 2:09-cv-00296 (S.D. Tex. –
Corpus Christi 2009), p. 25:1-3; Deposition of Irma Sue Weeks, in Prison Legal
News v. Livingston, No. 2:09-cv-00296 (S.D. Tex. – Corpus Christi 2009), p.
13:16-20.

56

12

Livingston's and Smith's Responses to Plaintiff's Second Requests for
Admission, Requests for Production, and Interrogatories, in Prison Legal News
v. Livingston, No. 2:09-cv-00296 (S.D. Tex. – Corpus Christi 2009), p. 4.

13

TDCJ Board Policy 03.91.

14

Id.

15

Deposition of Jennifer Smith, p. 116:24-117:16.

16

This is the number of books censored through the end of 2009, when the data
was provided to TCRP. Additional books have likely been censored since that
time.

17

The total number of books censored is less than the number of banned books by
category because some books are censored for more than one reason, and thus
are counted in multiple categories.

18

In this list, TCRP excluded the “authors” publishing through Greenleaf and Star,
as these publishers top “authors” appear to write under pseudonyms. (“Donna
Allen,” “Nick Eastwood,” and “Kathy Andrews,” for example, have combined
written over 100 pornographic titles banned by TDCJ.)

19

See Martin v. Keller, No. 5:09-CV-0044 (E.D. N.C. 2009).

20

Mayfield v. TDCJ, 529 F.3d 599 (2008).

21

Deposition of Jennifer Smith, 55:20.

22

Silja J.A. Talvi, Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison
System (Emeryville, CA: Seal Press 2007), p. 110.

23

Id., p. 110.

24

Id., pp. 80-86.

25

Id., p. 111.

57

26

Robert Perkinson, Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire (Henry
Holt and Co. 2010), p. 25.

27

Id., p. 26.

28

Don Sabo, Terry A. Kupers, and Willie London. eds. Prison Masculinities. (New
York: Temple University Press, 2001), p. 129.

29

Deposition of Jennifer Smith, Ex. 9, National Prison Rape Elimination
Commission, Public Proceedings, March 26-27, 2007, Austin, TX.
The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission was created by the Prison
Rape Elimination Act, and tasked with gathering data and making
recommendations to prevent sexual abuse in U.S. detention facilities. See 42
U.S.C. § 15601, et seq. A complete transcript of the proceedings is available at
http://nprec.us/home/public_proceedings/proceedings_austintx.php.

30

Pages 58-59 of the Second Vintage International Edition, June 1997 of Lolita
contain a graphic, vivid description of Humbert Humbert’s sexual encounter
with young Lolita.

31

Pages 35-36 of the Vintage International Edition, March 1989 of Death in
Venice describe the aging Aschenbach’s obsession with the boy, Tadzio.

32

The novella, on which the Oscar-nominated movie is based, was originally
published in King’s Different Seasons, and then again in the collection The
Shawshank Redemption. TDCJ does not censor either book.
From Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, (Different Seasons
ed.), p. 32:
And then there are the sisters. They are to prison society what
the rapist is to the society outside the walls. … Their prey is
the young, the weak, and the inexperienced … Their hunting
grounds are the showers, the cramped, tunnel-like areaway
behind the industrial washers in the laundry, sometimes the
infirmary. … Most often the sisters take by force what they
could have had for free, if they wanted it that way … But for

58

the sisters, the joy has always been in taking it by force … and
I guess it always will be.”
From page 33:
I guess the phrase gang-rape is one that doesn’t change much
from one generation to the next. That’s what they did to him,
those four sisters. They bent him over a gear-box and one of
them held a Phillips screwdriver to his temple while they gave
him the business. It rips you up some, but not bad—and I
speaking from personal experience, you ask?—I only wish I
weren’t. You bleed awhile. If you don’t want some clown
asking if you just started your period, you wad up a bunch of
toilet paper and keep it down the back of your underwear until
it stops.
From p. 34:
They took him, all three of them. When it was done, Rooster
and the other egg … forced Andy down to his knees. Bogs
stepped in front of him. He had a pearl-handled razor … He
opened it and said ‘I’m gonna open my fly now, mister man,
and you’re going to swallow what I give you to swallow. And
when you done swallowed mine, you’re gonna swallow
Rooster’s.”
33

Lockdown America, p. 206.

34

Deposition of Jennifer Smith, p. 36:12-37:3.

35

Camp Broadway, LLC, Stage Notes: The Color Purple, p. 4, available at
http://www.campbroadway.com/stagenotes/TheColorPurple_StageNotes.pdf
36

Deposition of Jennifer Smith, p. 55:8-9.

37

Notably, The Anarchist Cookbook appears to never have been reviewed by
TDCJ—it does not appear on the banned or allowed lists.

59

APPENDIX

60

NUMBER:

TEXAS DEPARTMENT

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)

DATE: July 13, 2007

OF

PAGE:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

SUPERSEDES:

lof 13
BP-03.91
June 1, 2004

BOARD POLICY
SUBJECT:

UNIFORM OFFENDER CORRESPONDENCE RULES

AUTHORITY:

18 U.S.C. Section 1716; Sections 498.0042, 492.013(a) and 499.102(a)(12),
Texas Government Code; Section 38.111, Texas Penal Code
Reference: American Correctional Association (ACA) Standards 4-4487,
·4-4488, 4-4489, 4-4490, 4-4491, 4-4492, 4-4493, 4-4494, 4-4495 and
4-4496; AD-04.82, "Forfeiture of Good Conduct Time for Contacting a
Victim without Authorization," and AD-07.90, "Correspondence Supplies
and Postage for Offenders"

APPLICABILITY: Texas Department ofCrirninal Justice (TDCJ or Agency)
POLICY:
The TDC] shall facilitate offenders keeping in touch with families and friends. All incoming and
outgoing correspondence, except as otherwise provided here, is subject to delivery, inspection
and rejection in accordance with the following rules.
DEFINITIONS:
"Contraband," in relation to correspondence, is any physical item that presents a threat to the
safety or security of the staff, offenders, institution or public, and does not include any written
material disapproved for its content.
"Director's Review Committee" (DRC) is the body of appointed Agency administrators with the
authority to hear all appeals related to rejected correspondence, publications and placements on
negative mailing lists.
"General Correspondence" is any mail sent to or from a General Correspondent or not otherwise
included in the definitions of Legal, Media or Special Correspondence.
"General Correspondent" is any person corresponding with an offender who is not
within the definitions for Legal, Media or Special Correspondents.
61

InCIUlll;::U

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 2 of 13

"Indigent Status" is when a TDCJ offender: (1) has less than a $5.00 balance in their Offender
Trust Fund account for 60 days or less; (2) has a damaged or misplaced identification (ill) card;
or (3) is 0:r: week one of lockdown status for more than seven (7) consecutive days.
"Legal Correspondence" is any mail sent to or from a Legal Correspondent.
"Legal Correspondent" is any attorney licensed in the United States or a legal aid society (an
organization providing legal services to offenders or other persons) contacting an offender in
order to provide legal services.
"Mail System Coordinators Panel" (MSCP) is the body designated to assist in the maintenance
and coordination of the Uniform Offender Mail System. The MSCP serves to bring uniformity
to the decisions of the various units by providing technical assistance and rule interpretation;
serves as the centralized authority for the review of publications for initial unit acceptance or
denial; provides training for mailroom staff; conducts in-depth monitoring of all unit mailrooms;
and submits periodic reports pertaining to the offender mail system.
"Media Correspondence" is any mail sent to or from a Media Correspondent.
"Media Correspondent" is any member of the editorial and reporting staff of any newspaper or
magazine listed in the Gale Directory ofPublications or the Editor & Publisher Year Book or the
editorial and reporting staff of any radio or television station. Other members of the media,
including free-lance members, may petition to the DRC to be included within the definition of
"media correspondent."
"Sexually Explicit Image" is material that shows the frontal nudity of either gender, including the
exposed female breast(s) with nipple(s) or areola(s), or the genitalia or anus of either gender.
The cHests of infants and pre-pubescent children are not considered breasts.
."Special Correspondence" is any mail sent to or from a Special Correspondent.
"Special Correspondent" is any member of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ); the
Executive Director; the Deputy Executive Director; any Directors, Deputy Directors and
Wardens of the TDCJ Correctional Institutions Division (CID); any court or district or county
clerk of the United States or any of the States of the United States; any member of the Legislature
of the States or the United States; the President of the United States or the Governor of any State
of the United States; the Attorney General of the United States or any attorney in the United
States Department of Justice; the Director or any agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or
any official of any federal, state or local law enforcement agency, including offices of inspector
general, the directors of state departments of corrections, the Bureau of Prisons and parole
commissioners from other States; the Attorney General or any Assistant Attorney General of any
state; any member or commissioner of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles; any foreign
consulate (Consul General, Vice Consul or Honorary Consul) of any country of which the
offender is a citizen; the Texas State Law Library or any county law library iIi the State of Texas.

62

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 4 of 13

3.

a.

Minors whose parents or guardians object in writing to the
correspondence, except an offender's own child or stepchild
(unless the child or stepchild is the offender's victim as described
in Section I.B.3);

b.

fudividuals who request in writing not to receIve further
correspondence from the offender; and

c.

fudividuals who have attempted to send contraband into the
institution or otherwise committed a serious violation of the
correspondence rules, as determined by the Warden. A person who
commits a serious violation of the Uniform Offender
Correspondence Rules may be prohibited from any further
correspondence with a particular offender and may be placed on a
negative mailing list of persons with whom that particular offender
may not correspond. Within 72 hours of such addition to a
negative mailing list, a notice, accompanied by a statement of the
reason therefore, shall be sent to the disallowed person and to the
offender. Within the same time period, the disallowed person and
the offender shall also be notified of how to appeal and the·
procedure for appeal.

Victims
Pursuant to AD-04.82, "Forfeiture of Good Conduct Time for Contacting a
Victim without Authorization," Section 38.111 of the Texas Penal Code
and Section 498.0042 of the Texas Government Code, the TDCJ prohibits
unauthorized contact with a victim or a member of a victim's family by
offenders who are confined in the TDCJ CID if the following criteria are
met:
a.

The offender is currently serving time for committing a cnme
against that victim;

b.

The victim was younger than 17 years of age at the time of the
offense; and

c.

Written authorization for the contact was not obtained prior to the
initiation of the contact.

Offenders making unauthorized contact with victims shall be charged with
a major disciplinary offense and, if the charge is sustained, may forfeit all
or any part of accrued good conduc~ time credit if the offender is not a
state jail offender. A state jail offender shall be assessed a major

63

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 3 of 13

"Stationery" is white, undecorated paper, not to exceed the size of 8Y2" x 11," QT unstamped
white envelopes, including carbon paper and white envelopes with the offender's commitment
name and TDCJ number preprinted in the return address portion of the envelope, but excluding
any paper with names, addresses or letterhead, and excluding tablets or writing pads with stapled
binding. (NOTE: Ruled white paper is not considered decorated and is permitted.)
"Watch List" is a TDCJ Mainframe generated list of offenders on special correspondence
restriction, negative mailing lists and names submitted by the Security Threat Group (STG)
Officer, Unit Safe Prisons Coordinator (USPC), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and/or
unit administration.
PROCEDURES:
1.

General Rules and Instructions Regarding Correspondence
A.

Permissible Correspondents
An offender may correspond with as many persons as the offender chooses, except
as restricted by this policy (Uniform Offender Correspondence Rules).

B.

Restricted Correspondents
1.

Other Offenders
Offenders may not correspond with other offenders unless:

2.

a.

The offenders are immediate family members (parents, stepparents, grandparents, children, stepchildren, spouses, common law
spouses and siblings);

b.

The offenders have a child together, as proven through a birth
certificate and the parental rights have not been terminated;

c.

The offenders are co-parties in a currently active legal matter; or

d.

The offender is providing a relevant witness affidavit in a currently
active legal matter.

Negative Mailing List
Offenders shall be denied permission to correspond with persons on the
offender's negative mailing list. Persons on that list may be:

64

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 5 of 13

disciplinary penalty if the charge is sustained. An offender may also be
subject to criminal charges for improper contact with a victim.
C.

How to Correspond
There is no restriction placed upon the length of incoming or outgoing
correspondence. All offender mail shall be sent and received through duly
authorized channels. Offenders shall not smuggle letters in or out of the
institution.
1.

Authorized Channels
Offenders may only send First Class, Certified or Priority United States
mail through the offender mail system.

2.

C.O.D. Mail
No Cash on Delivery (C.O.D.) mail shall be accepted for any offender, and
no offender shall be authorized to send C.O.D mail. Unauthorized items
arriving by mail shall be returned to the sender at the expense of the
offender if ordered by said offender, unless the offender is without funds,
in which case the mail shall be returned at the sender's expense.
Offenders shall be notified when C.O.D. mail is returned to the sender.

3.

Packages
All outgoing packages shall not be sealed for mailing until inspected by
TDCJ. Packages shall be free of contraband or material which constitutes
a threat to security or which cannot be lawfully sent through the mail.
Inspection of this mail shall be done in the presence of the offender; if
cleared for mailing, the item shall be sealed and placed in the mail by the
sender in the presence of the inspector. Outgoing packages may be mailed
at a "media mail" rate if the contents of the package meet the "media mail"
rate guidelines outlined by the United States Postal Service. These rules
shall not apply to outgoing packages to special, legal and media
correspondents, which shall be governed by the rules relating to such
correspondence.
Packages shall not be sent to offenders by individuals. TDCJ shall pennit
the delivery of packages of stationery from legitimate stationery vendors (a
stationery vendor need not register in advance with the TDCJ in order to
be a "legitimate" vendor), subject to its right of inspection. Packages of
publications may be sent to offenders by publishers or publication
suppliers, including bookstores. TDCJ shall accept delivery of packages
from public carriers only (e.g., USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex, DHL) Special

65

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 6 of 13

4.

provisions are made for packages to be received from suppliers for craft
shop operations. All incoming packages shall be subject to inspection.
Offenders shall be notifiedwhen unauthorized packages are denied.
Return Address and Outgoing Correspondence
Each outgoing envelope or package shall include the sending offender's
commitment name, TDCJ number, unit name and current address.
Offenders having a legal name other than the offender's commitment
name may also place that name in the return address. No other
infonnation shall be made part of the return address.
Offenders may not embellish outgoing envelopes with illustrations or
written messages other than the return address, the name and address of
the intended recipient and a notation that the envelope contains legal,
special or media mail; photos do not bend; or fragile.
Mailroom officials shall refuse for mailing, after consultation with the
MSCP, any outgoing correspondence from an offender that they
reasonably believe will be deemed nonmailable by the United States Postal
Service pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1716. This includes envelopes or
packages having obnoxious odors or containing liquids or powders.

5.

Stationery
Any type of stationery, whether bought at the commissary, mailed from
approved sources as described in these Rules or stationery authorized for
issuance to indigent offenders may be used in correspondence. Offenders
may not use homemade envelopes to correspond.

6.

Indigent Postage
Postage and stationery for mail from indigent offenders may be secured
through the Warden's representative. Postage and stationery shall be made
available to indigent offenders, including those in administrative
segregation, at regular intervals. Postage and stationery shall be furnished
to an indigent offender for correspondence to any special correspondent
listed in these Rules and to any attorney or legal aid society. An indigent
offender may use indigent postage to send five (5) one-ounce domestic
letters per week to general correspondents and five (5) items to legal or
special correspondents. Upon request to the Warden's representative and
for good cause shown, an offender may send extra letters to general, legal
or special correspondents using indigent postage.

66

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 7 of 13

Funds expended by the TDCJ for postage and stationery within the first 60
days that an offender is indigent shall be recouped by the TDCJ from
funds later deposited in the offender's Trust Fund Account.
D.

Publications

An offender may receive publications in the mail only from the publisher or
publication supplier, including bookstores. Offenders ordering publications shall
fonvard payments for subscription to individual publications with the order.
Offenders shall not receive publications of any kind on a trial basis with payment
postponed. Persons desiring to give publications directly to individual offenders
may have the publication mailed directly to the offender only from the publisher
or publications supplier, including bookstores. Publications received by offenders
may be in languages other than English.
II.

Special and Media Correspondence
A.

Permissible Correspondence
Offenders may write sealed and uninspected letters directly to special and media
correspondents. All incoming correspondence from any special or media
correspondent may be opened and inspected only for contraband, except under the
special circumstances noted in these Rules. The inspection shall be in the
offender's presence. All incoming special correspondence envelopes shall be
prominently stamped as received by the TDCJ or cancelled so that franked
government envelopes cannot be reused.

B.

Exceptions
In indiyidual cases, where reasonable SuspICIOn exists to believe these
correspondence rules or the law is being violated, incoming or outgoing special or
media correspondence may be opened and inspected for contraband and content
upon obtaining written permission of the cm Director or designee.

m.

Legal Correspondence
A.

Permissible Correspondence
In order to facilitate the attorney-client privilege, an offender may write sealed and
uninspected letters directly to legal correspondents. No correspondence from an
offender to any legal correspondent may be opened or read. All incoming
correspondence from any legal correspondent may be opened and inspected for
contraband only. The inspection shall be in the offender's presence. No
correspondence to an offender from any legal correspondent may be read.

67

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 8 of 13

B.

Exceptions
When an offender consistently violates the law or the correspondence rules
through legal correspondence, the offender may have legal mail privileges
suspended except to the offender's attorney of record, upon obtaining written
permission of the crn Director or designee. The attorney of record shall submit a
written statement naming them as the attorney of record for the offender. The
cm Director shall approve the restriction of legal correspondence privileges.

N.

Handling Offender Correspondence
A.

Content Inspection of General Correspondence
All general correspondence shall be subject to the right of inspection and rejection
by unit mailroom staff. All outgoing or incoming letters to and from offenders
and enclosures such as clippings, photographs or the like shall be disapproved for
mailing or receipt only if the content falls as a whole or in significant part into any
of the categories listed below:
1.

Contains threats of physical harm against any person or place or threats of
criminal activity;
.

2.

Threatens blackmail or extortion;

3.

Concerns sending contraband in or out of the institutions;

4.

Concerns plans to escape or unauthorized entry;

5.

Concerns plans for activities in violation of institutional rules;

6.

Concerns plans for future criminal activity;

7.

Uses code and its contents are not understood by the person inspecting the
correspondence;

8.

Solicits gifts of goods or money under false pretenses or for payment to
other offenders;

9.

Contains a graphic presentation of sexual behavior that is in violation of
the law;

10.

Contains a sexually explicit image;

11.

Contains information, which if communicated would create a clear and
present danger of violence or physical harm to a human being; or

68

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 9 of 13

12.

Contains records or documentation held by TDCJ which are not listed in
the attachment to the TDCJ Open Records Act Manual Chapter 2.

The offender and the sender or addressee shall be provided a written statement of
the disapproval and a statement of the reason within 72 hours of the receipt of said
correspondence. This notice shall be given on Correspondence Denial Forms.
The offender shall be given a sufficiently detailed description of the rej.ected
correspondence to permit effective use of the appeal procedures. The offender,
sender or addressee may appeal the mailroom officer's decision through the
procedures outlined in these Rules.
B.

Contraband in General Correspondence
If contraband is found in an incoming letter or publication, the contraband should
be removed from the letter or publication, if possible. If the contraband cannot be
removed from the letter or publication, the letter or publication shall not be
delivered to the offender. A rejection as contraband is subject to the appeal
procedures outlined in these Rules.

C.

Contraband in Legal, Media or Special Correspondence
If an enclosure constituting contraband is found, the contraband shall not be
delivered to the offender. A written notice of the rejection and a statement of the
reasons shall be sent to the offender and the correspondent within 72 hours of the
rejection. The offender shall be given a sufficiently detailed description of the
rej ected contraband to permit effective use of the appeal procedures. At the same
time the correspondent and the offender shall be notified of the procedure for
appeal.

D.

Record of Legal, Special and Media Correspondence
The mailroom shall keep a record showing the source and destination of all
incoming and outgoing legal, special and media correspondence.

E.

Content Inspection of Publications
All publications are subject to inspection by the MSCP in Huntsville and by unit
staff. The MSCP has the authority to accept or reject a publication for content,
subject to review by the DRC. Publications shall not be rejected solely because
the publication advocates the legitimate use of the Offender Grievance Procedure,
urges offenders to contact public representatives about prison conditions or
contains criticism ofprison authorities.
1.

Rej ection Due to Content

69

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 10 of 13

A publication may be rejected if:
a.

It contains contraband that cannot be removed;

b.

It contains information regarding the manufacture of explosives,

weapons or drugs;

2.

c.

It contains material that a reasonable person would construe as
written solely for the purpose of communicating information
designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender
disruption such as strikes, riots or security threat group activity;

d.

A specific determination has been made that the publication is
detrimental to offenders' rehabilitation because it would encourage
deviant criminal sexual behavior;

e.

It contains material on the setting up and operation of criminal
schemes or how to avoid detection of criminal schemes by lawful
authorities charged with the responsibility for detecting such illegal
activity; or

f

It contains sexually explicit images. Publications shall not be
prohibited solely because the publication displays naked or
partially covered buttocks. Subject to review by the MSCP and on
a case-by-case basis, publications constituting educational,
medical/scientific or artistic materials, including, but not limited
to, anatomy medical reference books, general practitioner reference
books andlor guides, National Geographic or artistic reference
material depicting historical, modern and/or post modem era art,
may be permitted.

Notice
If a publication is rejected, the offender, the editor andlor the publisher
shall be provided a written notice of the disapproval and a statement of the
reason within 72 hours of receipt of said publication on a Publication
Denial Form. Within the same time period, the offender, the editor and/or
the publisher shall be notified of the procedure for appeal. The offender
shall be given a sufficiently detailed description of the rejectedpublication
to permit effective use of the appeal procedures. The offender, the editor
or the publisher may appeal the rejection of the publication through
procedures provided by these Rules.

70

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 11 of 13

3.

List of Disapproved Publications
A list of publications disapproved for receipt by offenders· during the last
two (2) months shall be noted on the Law Library Holdings List on each
institution. The list shall be updated every month.

F.

Processing Incoming and Outgoing Offender Mail
All mail shall be processed, including delivery, pick-up or·notifications, by TDCJ
employees or private facility staff only and during waking hours whenever
possible. No offender is to handle another offender's mail, either incoming or
outgoing.
All incoming mail, except packages, shall be delivered within 24 hours of receipt,
except on weekends or holidays. Incoming packages shall be delivered within 48
hours of receipt, except on weekends or holidays. The hours of weekends and
holidays shall not be used in computing the 24 or 48 hour period.
All outgoing mail,except packages, shall be delivered to a United States Postal
Service employee within 24 houts, except on weekends or holidays. Outgoing
packages shall be delivered to a United States Postal Service employee within 48
hours, except on weekends or holidays. The hours of weekends and holidays shall
not be used in computing the 24 or 48 hour period.
Exception: Incoming and outgoing mail for offenders whose mail is being
monitored may be processed within 48 hours of receipt, if necessary, to allow unit
staff to properly examine the correspondence.

G.

Forwarding of Mail
Mail received shall be forwarded to an offender immediately in the event the
offender has left the unit and a forwarding address is available. Newspapers shall
be forwarded by truck mail for seven (7) days and other subscriptions shall be
forwarded by truck mail for 45 days after an offender is transferred between TDCJ
institutions if truck mail is available between the two (2) institutions. Should an
offender leave the unit of assignment for temporary medical treatment,
correspondence, newspapers and magazines shall be held by the unit mailroom
until the offender returns to the unit.

H.

Mailrooms
All unit mailrooms shall be open and provide mail service Monday through
Friday, except on holidays recognized by the United States Postal Service.

71

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 12 of 13

1.

Treatment Programs
The Substance Abuse Treatment Program (SATP), the Sex Offender Treatment
Program (SOTP) and other treatment programs or therapeutic communities, as
approved by the cm Director and the Rehabilitation and Reentry Programs
Division (RRPD) Director and maintained by the MSCP, may have more
restrictive content-based requirements for general correspondence and
publications, as long as those more restrictive requirements are directed at the
treatment goals and needs of the treatment program or therapeutic community..

V.

Review Procedures for Denied Items

A.

Handling of Denied Items
Any incoming or outgoing correspondence or publications that are rejected shall
not be destroyed, but shall remain with the mailroom officer subject to
examination and review by those involved in the administration of appeal
procedures out.lined herein. Upon completion of the appeal procedures, if the
correspondence or publication is denied, the offender may request that it continue
to be held in the custody of the mailroom officer for use in any legal proceeding
contemplated by the offender, or that it be disposed of in one (1) of the following
manners unless security concerns mandate the offender not have a choice in the
disposition:

B.

1.

Mail the publication or correspondence to any person at the offender's
expense;

2.

Destroy the publication or correspondence, only with the offender's
written pennission; or

3.

Any item (i.e., free gifts) received as a result of a subscription purchase or
renewal shall be disposed of in accordance with AD-03.72, "Offender
Property."

Correspondence Appeal Procedure
Any offender or other correspondent, or editor or publisher of a publication may
appeal the rejection of any correspondence or publication. An offender or a
correspondent may appeal the placement of the correspondent on the offender's
negative mailing list. An offender or a correspondent may apply to the DRC for
reconsideration of the negative mailing list placement after the passage of six (6)
months.

72

BP-03.91 (rev. 1)
Page 13 of 13

How to Appeal
A written notice of appeal shall be sent to the DRC within two (2) weeks of
notification of rejection. Upon receipt of notification, the correspondence or
publication in question shall be sent to the DRC.
Final Decision
The DRC shall render its decision within two (2) weeks after receiving the
appeal, and shall issue written notification of the decision to the parties
involved within 48 hours.
Delegation
The DRC Chairman may delegate decisions regarding correspondence and
publication denials to the MSCP, which will be bound to the guidelines
applicable to the DRC regarding appeals.

f1ftt'j ,TIW:

~-~M~~/~
'0i1\~;zm~11\,!l1, hie! H
,e

Christina Melton Crain, Chairman
Texas Board of Criminal Justice

73

12/17/2009

14:19

PAGE

OAG LAW ENF DIV
GAG

5124800445

19/19

Al)-03.93 (rev. 2)
A:O·03.93
A.ttachment A
Pl\g~

50f5

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
CORRESPONDENCE/CONTRABAND DENIAL FORM

r.DCJ NUMBER:

NAME:

DATE OFFENDER
NOTIFIED:

DATE CO:RR./CONT.
RECEIVED:

UNIT:

CORRESPONDENCE: (Circle One) TO or FROM

The above correspondence has been denied to you in accordance with BP 03.91, "Uniform Offender Correspondence
Rules."
M

CHECK APPROPRIATE CAUSE OR CAUSES FOR DENIAL AND STATE APPROPRIATE REASON
[J Sealed Correspondence
Package / PubHcadon
U Enclosure
o Paclrogc
o Content
LI Contraband

APPEAL:
Should the offender deckle to appeal the re.iection
re.iectiolJ. of said correspondence/contraband, the offender shall notify the Unit Mailroom
WITBlN TWO (2) WEEKS of offender notification r.equesting that this correspondence/contraband and the rejection ronn be
pe~ons outside the institution desire to appelil,
appe(il, submit by first c1aBS
forwarded to the Director's Review Committee (DRC). Should pe~ons
77343·0033. TIle appeal must reach the
tho DRe WITHIN
mail to the Director's Review Committee, P.O. Box 99, Huntsville, Texas 77343-0033.
TWO (2) WEEKS of the notification U~ted above,
Does the offender wish to appeal? 0 Yes

n No
Offender
OffeTlder Signature

Date

DISPOSITION: Offender should check the desired disposition.

o Desttoy

o Send to the following person at the offender's expense:

Name and Address
Offender Signatu.rc and Date

UNIT DISPOSITION:

RepresentativE) Signature and Date
Mailroom Representative

_ _ _ _------:=----=-------:;:-;---'~---:-------------:::-_J
________
~~~~~--~----------~--__J
Employee Signature
Date
Employee Signature

Date

H1' A DISPOSITION CHOICE IS NOT EXPRESSED AND EXECUTED OR LITIGATION HAS NOT BEGUN ON ITEMS BEING
If'
HELD FOR LITGATION WITHIN 60 DAYS OF THE INITIAL DENIAL OR FROM THE .DRC DECISION DATE (IF
APPEALED), THE TrEMS SHALL BE DESTROYED.
DISTRIBUTION:
Original- Send to the ORe IF nIT:. OFFENDER WISHES TO APPEAL. If not. keep on unit.
Gold - Unit Copy
Yellow -~ 0 ffcndcr
fJ'cndcr Copy
of COITcspondence
.Pink - Mail to sender/addressee (If
correspondence
1·153 (Woated
(U!'oated Date)

74

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TEXAS OEPARTMENTOF·9RIMINAL J,t)STICE ~~ t~ll'ila,
PUBLICATION REVIEW / DENIAL NOTIFICATION
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"~tor"

"'\'

',Jhe~aoove'listed publ,ioiiltion has been reviewed and denied in accordance with Board Policy 03.91, Uniform Offender
Correspondence Rules and Regulations. This deoision maybe a.B~ealed to theDirector's Review Committee (ORe"
PO Box 99, Huntsville, Texas 77342-0099 WITHIN TWO (2) WEt:KS of the date of offender notification.
"

Check
material.
Check one or more reasons
reasons for denial
denial and cite page
page number
number of
of objectionable
objectionable material.
oo (a)
(a) ItIt contains
contains contraband
contraband that
that cannot
cannot be removed;
removed;

oo

(b)
weapons or
or drugs;
drugs;
(b) ItIt contains
contains information
information regarding
regarding the manufacture
manufacture of
of explosives,
explosives, weapons

'~ (c)
(c)

I

ItIt contains
written solely
solely for
forth.e
purpose of
of communicating
communicating
contains material
material that.a
that a reasonable
reasonable pe.rsol1
person would
would construe
construe as written
the purpose
information
through offender
offender disruption
disruption such
such as
as strikes,
strikes, riots
riots or
or
information designed
designed to achieve
achieve the breakdown
breakdown of
of prisons
prisons through
security
security threat
threat group
group activity;
activity;

oo

(d)
detrimental to offenders'
offenders' rehabilitation,
rehabilitation, because
because
(d) A specific
specific determination
determination has been made
made that
that the publication
publication is detrimental
it would
would encourage
encourage deviant
deviant criminal
criminal sexual
sexual behavior;
behavior;

0o

(e)
schemes or
or how
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avoid detection
detection of
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criminal
(e) ItIt contains
contains material
material on the setting
setting up and operation
operation of
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criminal schemes
schemes by lawful authorities
authorities charged
charged with the responsibility
responsibility for
schemes
for detecting
detecting such
such illegal
illegal activity;
activity; or
or

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(f) ItIt cotiins
cotjinS sexually
sexually ~XPlicit
explicit images.
images.
(f)

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IF A
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AND EXECUTED,OR
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HAS NOT
IF
LITIGATION
NOT BEGUN
BEGUN ON
ON THE
THE PUBLICATION
PUBLICATION BEING
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HELD FOR
FOR
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WITHIN SIXTY
SIXTY (60) DAYS
DAYS OF THE
THE INITIAL
INITIAL DENIAL,
DENIAL, THE
THE PUBLICATION
PUBLICATION WILL
LITIGATION,
WILL BE DESTROYED,
DESTROYED.

---=----:-_~;:........,...--------=----,._..,...."...",~-----

UNIT DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION:
UNIT
Date

Employee's
Employee's Signature
Signature

Publisher /I Sender
Sender _~-------~-~---~------------------__
---------_-_-_------------------Publisher
Address
Address

~

---------------~~-----------~---

-,--,-

DISTRIBUTION:
DISTRIBUTION:
Original -- Unit
Unit Copy
Copy or SEND
SEND WITH
WITH AUTHORED
AUTHORED BOOK
BOOK OR
OR MAGAZINE
MAGAZINE IF APPEALED
Original
APPEALED TO
TO THE
THE DRe,
DRe.
Gold
Unit Copy
Copy
Gold
-- Unit
Yellow -- Offender
Offender Copy
Copy
Yellow
Pink
Sender of Authored
Authored Book
Book (Previously
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1-154

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TEXAS oePARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

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PUBLICATION REVJEW I DENIAL NOTIFICATION

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NOTIFIED

above IItt$d
lilted pUblicIrtIon
pUblicErtJon • *
~n
revIewed end denied
PoIlcy03.A1, Uniform
Untroon ot/$nder
~nder
The ebove
n reviewed
danled In accordance with Board Po/lcy03.A1,
~gulaUons. this daolelon
deolelon may be ,ppea1ed
appealed 10
Committ&e (DRC).
CorNtpondence Rulet
Correepondence
Rules and Regulations.
to the Olmator's
OJMOtor's Aevfew Committee
(ORC),
PO Box Ill;),
.. , Texas 17342-0099
01 offender notlflcallon.
E:le. HUnl$IIIII
Huntwllle.
11342-0099 WITl1IN
wrrt1IN lWO (2) Wl'!!l(S
Wf!!I(S of the dale
date of
notificatIon,
on8 or mOM reasons fOr
denial and elle
cite page number of objectionable
Check
OhElOk 008
tor deniel
objectlenable material,
I1l8tllr/Ql,
removed;
o (a) It eontelns oorrtreband
OOI'1tr8band IMt
that cannot be removed:

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a
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(tI)
contains InlonneHoll
manulaoture of 9KPIOSlws,
8)(j)IOSlves, weepons
wellpons or drugs;
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InftIMnetioll reglll'dlng
reg..-dlng the manufaature

ao

(0) It contains
re.,onable pal'8on
pel'8on would construe
written solAly
soJAIy fOr the ))UTJlD51l
contaIns materll!ll
mRterll!l1 that a ro••onable
ccnstn.le liS WI'ltten
putpDse of communloatlng
echklvt the breakdown Of
of pr\I!ons
woo MM ItrIkes,
strIkM, rlote
note or
infonnstlon designed fQ
information
fQechkwt
pr1IOn3 through offender
o1Tender dlsnJption
dlmlptlon euoh
.ICUrity
thrept group QCtivlty;
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AOtlvlty~
.
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sp&OlfIo detennlnatlon
determInation hss
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the publloatlon
publlcatlon I"
I~ detrlmental
detrimental to offenders' I'8habUltdon,
rehabllltdon, beoause
beoaus~
encourage deviant orImlmsl sexual behllvior;
It would encoumgc deviant orfmlmsl sexual bahllvior;

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(e) It c;ontalrill
crimlnalsOhemes
avoid datection
contalris matorial
matolial on !he'settlng
the'settJn" up and opemJon
ope~n of
Of criminal
,enamElS or how to 8'IIOid
dataoUon Of or1mlnel
ar1mlnel
sohemH
euthorftiea OOatged
with the reaPOlllllblllty
dlltectfng suoh
suDh lIIegel
aolMty: or
sohem" by lawfUl
lawful lIuthorttfea
chargad WIth
resPOOSIblltty for detectfng
trlegef aotMty,

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(f) It
contslns sexul!lllly
sexually explicit Images.
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Check th&
the deS41'8d
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dlsposft/on.
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Destroy

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LITIGA.liON HAS NOT
NC>T BEGUN ON THE
TIoIE PUeUCATION IHING
.IING HeLD FOR
II'
DISPOsmON CHOIOE
AND IOO!CIJTEO.
LITIGATION
UTIGATlON.
WITHIN SI>m'
SIX'lY (00)
(80) DAYs
DAYS OF THE INrrtAL
DENIAL,
PUB~'0J\T10N wUUE
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Addreas ..........._ _- -

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Addre5~-------------------------------------------~---DI8Tft18UTIONI
DISTRIIllUT'ON:

OrIGinal
AUTHOIUiO BOOK OR MAGAZlNI!
OriOInDl • Unit COpy or .IIND
IIIND WITH AU'I'HOREO
MAGAZlNE IF APPIAU!l>
APP!ALE!b To THE DRC,
DRC.
Gald
•- Unll Copy
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DEPAFmAENT OF CRIMINAL JUSnCE
TEXAS DEPARTMENT
JUSTICE
PUIIlJOAllON
PUllUOA11ON FIIMEW
REVIEW I DENIAL NOI'IJIICATION
NOTVIlOATlON

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The above II8tad
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review'd ami
ana denied In IIIlCOI'dance
BCCOf\:tance YtiIh
Yt1th 6QM1
SQMf Policy oa91,.Ullifotm
oa9'l,,,UfJifot'm Offend«
~ FUea
FUe$ and Regulallooa
decIeIon may be appealed to the CilllClgr'$
ReYkiw ooinmltwll
Regu6atlone. ThIll d6cl8Ien
DjNCtcr'8 Revklw
Cdinmlttee (DRO), PO lib<
Box 99.
HunW~Ie, Texu
Texas 77342-0099
of Ih&
Huntsv~lel
7734U099 WrJHIN
wrJHIN TWO (2) WEEKS Of
thti cI.N
c:t£M Of offender notilioatlM.
notlfiOatiM.

Ohed<
elte p;:!ge
page ru.rri)er
ntJ'ri:>e( of
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~ material,
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material.
oo (a) It OClnIelna
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contTaband;
o (b) It conIaIna
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CXlfltaIrII5 WooMtion
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~, Wtepons or drugl!;
druse:
. . (0)
II ~BbIe perilOI'l
IIIlI8Iy for
d CCI1Iml.lllloatlng
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person wculd oonstNe.
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fa !he
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cI pt1sons
de~M IWh
CIS strikes
'j6.. (d) A spectflo
specIfIo detennln8tlon
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CIt1endem' I1Ihabilil!ltion,
.
pWlicetion 1$ dalrlrnenUil
detrfrMnte;I to ct1endooi'
rehabilitation, beoauee
bsoauee ~ woukI
woukl
enoco.wago hanosexual
hanosexuaI or
behaVior,
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IX deviant
dl!M8nt orfmlnalllllldlll
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~rimirtBi sch"mee
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how to &WId deIecIIon
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d criminal 8Chemas
echemes by
IawM auttmtiM
autMrItIes ohargad
the I1I$pOOOIibiIiI
lawful
charged with tm
~ for deteotIng
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activit)'j or
ccn1!IIll$ saxuaIty
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Pfo&poIJitIon: Offtnder stP.kJ check the desired d1aposttJon.

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DlSTRlBUTION:
DISTRIBUTION:

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_Unit
caPt or SEND wrTH
\WH AUTHORED BOOK OR MAGAZINe
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TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

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PUBLICATION REVIEW I DENIAL NOTIFICATION

py~on Legal News

lm.,t Hi vvfZ ~lu II L.\ e.~ I
~~~~~lo~.D~fY)f' j 1?t1 lind EYI y S
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NAME

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DATE----'\~)-!-/=3'_f)--'.L)-'-'y+------

The above listed publication has been reviewed and denied in accordance with Board P.olicy 03.91, Uniform Offender
Correspondence Rules ana Regulations. This decision may be appealed to the Director's Review Committee (DRC), PO Box 99.
Huntsville. Texas 77342-0099 WITHIN TWO (2) WEEKS of the date of offender notification.
Check one or more reasons for denial and cite page number of objectionable material.
(a) It contains contraband;

o
o
o

(b) It contains information regarding the manufacture of explosives, weapons or drugs;
(c) It contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating
information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes or riots;

~

, (d) A specific determination has been made that the publication is detrimentai to offenders' rehabilitation, because it would
\
encourage homosexual or deviant criminal sexual behavior,

o

(e) It contains material on the setting up and operation of criminal schemes or how to avoid detection of criminal schemes by
lawful authorities charged with the responsibility for detecting such illegal activity; or

o

(f) It contains sexually explicit images.

¥b-

Remarks:

3Q

Does offender wish to appeal the denial?

0 Yes

Disposition: Offender should check the desired disposition.

o
I "

Destroy
Send to the following person at the offender's expense: ----------:c=-=:==:---------~
Name and Address

'l..€u ""'•• ",.___.._
Mailroom Representative Signature & Dale

Ollender's Signature & Dale

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IF A DISPOSITION CHOICE IS Nor EXPRESSED AND EXECUTED, OR lITIGATION HAS Nor BEGUN ON THE PUBUCATION BEING HELD FOR lITIGATION,
WITHIN SIXTY (60) DAYS OF THE INfTlAL DENIAL, THE PUBLICATION WILL BE DESTROYED

UNIT DISPOSITION: =---------,:;::;:--------------'EErm;;,;p;;;loy;;ee;.;'s;'isii;;g;;;na;;;tu;;;re;-------Publisher I

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DISTRIBUTION:
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Gold
Yellow
Pink

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,
- G)ffender Copy
- Sender of Authored Book (Previously -I~ 193)

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CORRESPONDENCE / CONTRABAND DENIAL FORM

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UNIT

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CORRESPONDENCE:

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The above correspondence has been denied to you in accordance with BP-03.91, Uniform Offender Correspondence Rules
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CHECK APPROPRIATE CAUSE OR CAUSES FOR DENIAL AND STATE APPROPRIATE REASON

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APPEAL:
Should the offender decide to appeal the rejection of said correspondence/contraband, he/she must notify the Unit Mailroom
WITHIN TWO (2) WEEKS of offender notification requesting that this correspondence/contraband and the rejection form be
forwarded to the Director's Review Committee (DRC). Should persons outside the institution desire to appeal, submit by mail
to the Director's Review Committee, PO Box 99, Huntsville, TX 77342-0099. The appeal must reach the DRC WITHIN TWO
(2) WEEKS of the notification date listed above.
()
_~
(1Do'es offender wish to appeal the denial?'

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0 Yes

&~ 2Dale- at)

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DISPOSITION: Offender should check the desired disposition.
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o Destroy
6Send to the following person at the offender's expense:

l-,-(_i-=.5=--o_~_~-=-~gl-d.:...LI-N;:;:am:::n~e-::fn::'i~-;Ad:O:~;:;re:::ss:---------(~l~u

UNIT DISPOSITION:

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---,,:==-.===--

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Employee's Signature

_

IF A DISPOSITION CHOICE IS NOT EXPRESSED AND EXECUTED OR LITIGATION HAS NOT BEGUN ON ITEMS BEING HELD FOR LITIGATION
WITHIN SIXTY (60) DAYS OF THE INITIAL DENIAL OR FROM THE DRC DECISION DATE (IF APPEALED), THE ITEMS WILL BE DESTROYED.

RECEIVED

DISTRIBUTION:
Original- Send to the DRC IF THE OFFENDER WISHES TO APPEAL. If not, keep on unit.
j\jN 1 0 2009
Gold
- Unit Copy
Yellow . Offender Copy
.'
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Pink
. Mail to sender/addressee of correspondence
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TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
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The above listed publication has been reviewed and denied in accordance with Board Policy 03,91, Uniform Offender
Correspondence Rules and Regulations, This decision may be appealed to the Director's Review Committee (DRC), PO Box 99,
Huntsville, Texas 77342-0099 WITHIN TWO (2) WEEKS of the date of offender notification.

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Check one or more reasons for deniai and cite page number of objectionable material.
o (a) It contains contraband;

o

(b) It contains information regarding the manufacture of explosives, weapons or drugs;

o

(c) It contains material that a reasonable person would construe as written solely for the purpose of communicating
information designed to achieve the breakdown of prisons through offender disruption such as strikes or riots;

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,

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(d) A specific determination has been made that the pubiication is detrimental to offenders' rehabilitation, because it would
encourage homosexual or deviant criminal sexual behavior,

o

(e) It contains material on the setting up-and operation.of criminal schemes or how to avoid detection of criminal schemes by
lawful authorities charged with the responsibility for detecting such illegal activity; or

o

(f) It contains sexually explicit images.

Remarks:

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o Yes

Does offender wish to appeal the denial?

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Disposition: Offender should check the desired disposition.
Destroy

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Send to the following person at the offender's expense: - - - - - - - - - - - : c - - - , . . - , - , - - , - - - - - - - - - - - \ \ _
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Name and Address
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Ma~room

Offender's Signature & Date

Representative Signature & Date

IF A DISPOSITION CHOICE IS NOT EXPRESSED AND EXECUTED, OR LfTlGATION HAS NOT BEGUN ON THE PUBLICATION BEING HELO FOR LfTlGATION,
WITHIN SIXTY (60) DAYS OF THE INITIAL DENIAL, THE PUBLICATION WIUL BE DESTROYED

UNIT DISPOSITION: :---------::-c------------____,::-:----,~____,-------

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Publisher I Senderrr \
Address

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Employee's S;gnalure

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DISTRIBUTION:
Original - Unit Copy or SEND WITH AUTHORED BOOK OR MAGAZINE IF APPEALED TO THE DRe.
Gold
- Unit Copy
Yellow - Offender Copy
Pink
- Sender of Authored Book (Previously 1,193)
80
tr 1-154 (Rev. 6104).
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