Privacy Maven

Amidst mounting pressure from Congress, civil liberties and religious organizations, the Bureau of Prisons has reversed its decision to remove what it had determined to be unapproved religious books:

The bureau had said it was prompted to remove the materials after a 2004 Department of Justice report mentioned that religious books that incite violence could infiltrate chapel libraries.

After the details of the removal became widely known this month, Republican lawmakers, liberal Christians and evangelical talk shows all criticized the government for creating a list of acceptable religious books.

The bureau has not abandoned the idea of creating such lists, Judi Simon Garrett, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail message. But rather than packing away everything while those lists were compiled, the religious materials will remain on the shelves, Ms. Garrett explained.

In an e-mail message Wednesday, the bureau said: “In response to concerns expressed by members of several religious communities, the Bureau of Prisons has decided to alter its planned course of action with respect to the Chapel Library Project.

“The bureau will begin immediately to return to chapel libraries materials that were removed in June 2007, with the exception of any publications that have been found to be inappropriate, such as material that could be radicalizing or incite violence. The review of all materials in chapel libraries will be completed by the end of January 2008.”

As Privacy Maven noted earlier, there were two New York Times articles, published on September 10 and September 21, which brought this story of the purge of religious books from prisons and the concomitant denial to prisoners of their Constitutional right to freedom of religious expression to widespread attention and outrage.