The New York Times reports that due to growing pressure and criticism, the federal Bureau of Prisons is restoring the chapel libraries that had been purged of all books not on their new “safe” lists.

“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.”

However, the secretly created lists won’t be going away, they have simply decided to leave the libraries intact until their lists are “complete”. While this is a step in the right direction, the essential problem with the lists is still there.

“This is a positive step: it means they are not throwing the baby out with the bath water,” Mr. Moore [director of prison policy oversight at Aleph] said of keeping books on the shelves for now. “But our position is there should not be a list of what should be on the shelves, but what shouldn’t be.”

There is also still no word on who was consulted to make these lists, a fact that should disturb anyone worried about bias and conflicts of interest in the list-making. Elysia Gallo, an acquisitions editor for Llewellyn Worldwide, claims that their company wasn’t consulted in the making of the list, and that they have no idea who was consulted.

“I think I can safely say that publishers were not consulted. Everyone here at Llewellyn was surprised and troubled when we first heard the news of this secret list. I think we can *all* agree that we would much rather have Pagans and seekers in prison be able to read anything and everything that is donated to chaplain libraries than simply what is on a list like this. It is a real shame for all religions involved. Chaplains were already selectively screening out books that include nudity, incite violence, etc. etc. from what I’ve heard anyway. Why try to be all pre-emptive by making a pre-approved list, rather than letting the chaplains handle these issues on a case-by-case basis as they always have? I have talked with others about this and so far no one knows who these mystery list-makers could be.”

So while it is good that the chapel libraries are being restored, the core issues haven’t changed, and we may see a similar purge take place again at the end of January. The federal Bureau of Prisons needs to be transparent as to who their religious “experts” are, and how these lists are being made. Better yet, they need to abandon this unconstitutional policy that serves only their convenience, not the safety of Americans or prisoners.

Tags: books, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Llewellyn, New York Times, Paganism, Prison, Religion