Arkansas is poised to impose what advocates say is probably the most excessive restriction within the nation on entry to studying materials behind bars: a complete ban on sending books, magazines or newspapers into state prisons from any exterior supply.
The coverage, adopted by the Arkansas Board of Corrections on Dec. 19, goes into impact Feb. 1. As soon as carried out, it is going to sever a decades-old apply that has been an important connection between incarcerated folks and their households, religion communities, educators, and the broader world past jail partitions.
In a Dec. 30 memo despatched to inmates, Dexter Payne, the director of the Arkansas Division of Correction, stated the ban is critical due to a rise in contraband, notably medication, being smuggled into amenities via printed supplies, per the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. The memo assures incarcerated folks they’ll nonetheless have entry to jail libraries, digitized publications on state-issued tablets, non secular supplies via chapels, and tv and radio for information and present occasions.
“This complete prohibition on incarcerated people receiving exterior hard-copy publications instantly into an ADC facility is critical to mitigate important safety dangers posed by more and more subtle strategies of contraband introduction,” Payne wrote, as reported by the publication.
However for a lot of households, advocates and folks inside, the fact of this ban feels a lot larger. Beneath the earlier coverage, in place since 2007, books and magazines may very well be despatched to incarcerated folks so long as they got here instantly from publishers or permitted distributors. Corrections workers reviewed supplies on a case-by-case foundation and will reject publications deemed a risk to safety or opposite to rehabilitation targets. The brand new rule scraps that framework completely, changing it with an absolute ban.
A overview of jail insurance policies nationwide by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette discovered no different state with such a sweeping prohibition.
“That is definitely probably the most thorough and harshest ban I’ve heard of,” Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson for the Jail Coverage Initiative, shared. “I’m not blissful to see this, however I’m not shocked.”
In a Dec. 8 memo to the Board of Corrections, Payne detailed 25 cases between January 2022 and August 2025 by which medication have been allegedly smuggled into Arkansas prisons via books and different printed supplies. In response to the memo, substances together with artificial marijuana and methamphetamines have been discovered sprayed onto pages, hidden in guide covers, or tucked into spines. Among the many confiscated objects have been shipments of Bibles, copies of the Quran, and extra.
The memo framed these incidents as a part of “continued and escalating makes an attempt” to introduce “doubtlessly deadly substances” into amenities, warning that contaminated paper poses a “direct and extreme danger” to incarcerated folks and workers alike.
However critics argue the state’s response is wildly disproportionate.
“There’s going to be some medication coming in from each avenue,” Bertram stated. “That’s what makes this so horrible.”
She added that whereas contraband is an actual subject, books are getting used as a handy scapegoat, on the expense of households who’re already doing the emotional and monetary labor of supporting family members inside.
Arkansas will not be alone in tightening restrictions round mail and publications. In September, the Florida Division of Corrections started routing all nonlegal mail via a non-public scanning heart in Tampa, Florida, the place letters are digitized and delivered electronically. However even amongst states which have adopted stricter controls, most nonetheless enable books to be despatched instantly from publishers or permitted retailers like Barnes & Noble, which even provides steering for transport to correctional amenities.
Although the Arkansas Division of Corrections claims incarcerated folks can entry greater than 50,000 titles on state-issued tablets and request books via jail libraries, advocates notice that jail libraries are sometimes underfunded, inconsistently stocked, and tightly curated, limiting each alternative and a way of independence. Robin Graham, writer of Highlight on Restoration, {a magazine} that includes writers from 93 prisons throughout 34 states, says the ban will silence voices in Arkansas completely.
“They’re hurting the assist that’s wanted for prisoners to alter their lives,” Graham stated
Solely time will inform whether or not Arkansas’ determination units a precedent for different prisons throughout america.
