The Rutherford Institute is calling on the Virginia Department of Corrections to withdraw a directive forbidding prison inmates from receiving free books from the Charlottesville-based Quest Institute, a non-profit whose "Books Behind Bars" program has distributed more than a million books to 11,000 inmates over the course of its 20-year history. In a demand letter sent to Gene M. Johnson, the director of the Virginia Department of Corrections, Rutherford Institute attorneys charge that the Department's ban amounts to egregious censorship and is an unwarranted and clear violation of the First Amendment rights of prison inmates who might benefit from the program, as well as the Quest Institute. A copy of the Institute's letter is available here. (PDF; 88 KB)
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For over 20 years, "Books Behind Bars," a program of the nonprofit corporation Quest Institute, Inc., has provided books free of charge to prison inmates in Virginia and other states. The program responds to requests from inmates for books on specific topics in order to satisfy the intellectual interests and spiritual needs of individual inmates. Books Behind Bars provides inmates with books for which they have a continuing need, such as dictionaries, books on religion, including the Bible and the Koran, meditation, art, literature and a variety of other topics.
However, earlier this year, Department officials issued a directive prohibiting inmates from receiving books sent by Books Behind Bars. Despite inquiries by the program's director, Kay Allison, and pleas that the program be allowed to continue, the department failed to provide any clear explanation for its act of censorship.
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