LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Prison librarian sentenced for smuggling drugs
A Stillwater prison librarian was sentenced to seven years of probation for helping inmates check out more than library books. According to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County District Court she tried to smuggle marijuana into the prison, located in Bayport, while she worked as a law librarian at the prison, a job she did once a month. She pleaded guilty to one count of bringing contraband into a state prison. She faces seven years of probation, 30 days of community work service and 30 days on a sentence to service crew.

Grisham and Updike among authors banned by Texan jail authorities
An exhaustive analysis by the Austin American Statesman of five years'-worth of publications whose rejection as unsuitable was appealed by inmates found a host of bestselling and classic titles had been banned from the state's prisons. Books by Nobel laureates Pablo Neruda and Andre Gide, collections of paintings by Picasso and Michelangelo, and bestsellers by James Patterson, Carl Hiaasen and Hunter S Thompson have all failed to pass the prisons' censors.

Virginia prison officials have unconstitutionally restricted inmates from receiving a magazine that reports on prisoner rights and criminal justice issues, the publication claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Prison Legal News filed the lawsuit against Gene M. Johnson, director of the state Department of Corrections, and other prison officials and employees in federal court in Charlottesville.

(AP) Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is serving a 30-year sentence at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colo., for joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate then-President George W. Bush. Last year, Abu Ali requested two books written by Obama: "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope."

His request was denied. Prison officials, citing guidance from the FBI, determined that passages in both books contain information that could damage national security.

The rejections, as well as other restrictions on family visits, prompted a hunger strike by Abu Ali that has since ended, his lawyer Joshua Dratel wrote.

Thanks Infodiva Librarian for the tip.

The American Civil Liberties Union today filed formal comments opposing a proposed rule by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that would illegally empower prison officials to ban vital religious works from prison chapel libraries, despite a law passed last year prohibiting them from doing so. The proposed rule, which would allow material to be banned based on a mere determination that it "could…suggest" violence or criminal behavior, directly contradicts the Second Chance Act which places strict limits on what material BOP officials may outlaw.

The ACLU’s comments, which have been signed by a diverse coalition of religious organizations including the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the American Jewish Congress and Muslim Advocates, were submitted for consideration to BOP’s Office of General Counsel.

Additional coverage from the NYTimes.

University Park leaders to mull SMU agreement for Bush library, expansion
University Park leaders tonight will consider an agreement with SMU that will bring the entities one step closer to the transfer of city land earmarked for school expansion and the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Self-help books, best-sellers, graphic novels and history -- these are among the popular books with inmates at the King County Jail.

But beginning in January, it won't be a librarian making the deliveries. Instead inmates, working under the supervision of a corrections officer, will be handing out the books.

The county's Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention will save about $240,000 annually by ending its contract with the King County Library System, which historically has provided librarians and a collection of books for the jail's inmates.

"It wasn't an efficient use of their money," said Nancy Smith, director of outreach services for the library system. Seattle P.I. reports.

In make believe, prison books usually are diversions - a Bible carved out to hide the rock hammer in "The Shawshank Redemption" or a field guide full of clues about The Company in "Prison Break."
In real life, prisoners actually read.
And one civil rights attorney says Utah's Department of Corrections is profiting from inmates' craving for the written word.
Since 2004, the state has had an exclusive contract with Barnes & Noble to sell books to prisoners. The Department of Corrections' commissary charges a $1 processing fee and pockets the difference between what inmates pay and what the bookseller charges.
Attorney Brian Barnard calls it "profiteering."

Full article here.

Dennice Alexander is the first full-time administrator to oversee the libraries within Arkansas state prison system, which holds more than 14,000 inmates spread among 20 locations. Prior to taking the position Alexander, 61, had never visited a prison.

For the longest time, advisory boards held sway over what books made it inside the double razor-wired fences. But, in recent years, Alexander has approved the books and magazines that bring light inside a system once deemed by federal courts to be a "dark and evil world."

"They're trying to rehabilitate themselves," Alexander said. "We have (prisoners) leaving everyday and some of them have been in since they were 17, 16, and now they're 35 and 40. The world has changed, so they don't know about Internet or banking."

Alexander receives only $20,000 a year to purchase books, magazines and newspapers for inmates. And she's working to create late fees for overdue books, possibly charging an inmate's commissary account if a borrowed book stays out past two weeks. As much as 90 per cent of all books in circulation at the prison units come from donations.

This one turned up in one of my email alerts today, it's from the Lake Oswego (Oregon) Police Blotter:

8/14/08 4:33 p.m. An argument broke out between a drag queen and another patron in the parking lot of the library.