Federal prisons remove unapproved religious books

[almaty 19]

Federal prisons remove unapproved religious books

Religious books are being removed from federal prisons across the USA, according to The New York Times.

"The chaplains were directed by the Bureau of Prisons to clear the shelves of any books, tapes, CDs and videos that are not on a list of approved resources," the paper says. "In some prisons, the chaplains have recently dismantled libraries that had thousands of texts collected over decades, bought by the prisons, or donated by churches and religious groups."

The Bureau of Prisons wants to prevent inmates from becoming radicalized by the writings of extremists, a spokeswoman says.

As part of this effort, it created a panel of unidentified experts that helped the government make a list of acceptable resources for each religion. Books that didn't make the list, including those that were purchased with federal funds, have been removed from prison libraries.

"The bureau has not provided additional money to prisons to buy the books on the lists, so in some prisons, after the shelves were cleared of books not on the lists, few remained," according to the Times.

Update at 9:52 a.m. ET: The New York Law Journal reports that two federal prisoners have filed a class-action lawsuit that asks a federal judge to review the new rules.

The paper report: According to the complaint, banned materials at Otisville include two fundamental Jewish works - Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah Systematic Code of Jewish Law" and the "Zohar," a primary text of Kabbalah - as well as the popular "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner. Among the purged Christian works is the best-selling "The Purpose-Driven Life," by Rick Warren. Further, according to the complaint, the Muslim section of the library at Otisville has been stripped of Islamic "prayer books, prayer guides and the 'Hadith,' which is the most important source for Muslim practice and faith after the Koran

[Scott & Lai 12]

Harold Kushner and Rick Warren are extremists?

[mawilson 2,133]

What kind of prison is that - Federal white-collar resort or Federal pound-me-in-the-аss?

[almaty 19]

Harold Kushner and Rick Warren are extremists?

i agree..these books would be good for readings in a cell

[Peikko 1,575]

It's always worrying when reading material is judged in this way. I may be in the camp of those who dislike fundamentalism of all types, but this is back to 'book burning', no?

The only books I would like to 'burn' are those produced by the informercial world, they are truly obnoxious

[Ta Ta 1]

Do you have the link for that ? I would like to pass that on to someone.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Can they read, A Catcher In The Rye?

[almaty 19]

Do you have the link for that ? I would like to pass that on to someone.

sorry sister, i was at work and should have posted it..i saw it on the front page of the usa today...

[Ta Ta 1]

ok thanks

[Jasman0717 9]

I wonder if fahrenheit 451 is banned

[L_n_O 3]

[Jasman0717 9]

Can they read, A Catcher In The Rye?

That won't make em radicals

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

What kind of prison is that - Federal white-collar resort or Federal pound-me-in-the-аss?

http://federalpoundmeintheassprison.com/

[GaryC 7]

Do you have the link for that ? I would like to pass that on to someone.

Here is the original story from the NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/us/10prison.html

[Ta Ta 1]

Thank you Gary.