The banned books in Texas prisons

[KamaAina]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/The-banned-books-in-Texas-prisons-9295223.php

A 2011 report by the Texas Civil Rights Commission states the Texas Department of Criminal Justice "arbitrarily censors books and magazines sent to Texas prisoners," banning books by "award-winning authors, literary classics, and books about civil rights and prison conditions."...

In a piece for the online news site Slate, Slater wrote that books like "Friday Night Lights" and certain works by renowned authors like Noam Chomsky and Langston Hughes are banned from Texas prisoners. Ironically, Texas allows prisoners to read Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and David Duke's "My Awakening," which Slater called some "of the most racist books ever written."...

The Guardian newspaper reports some of Leonardo DaVinci's sketches and some of Shakespeare's sonnets are also banished due to sexual content. Paul Wright, executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center, told the Guardian that TDCJ has banned about 15,000 books and that the list is growing.

"It's like we're living in the dark ages," Slater told the Guardian. "The system is so aggressive and arbitrary."

[oolon]

1. Dark age metaphor rather apt

It's unfortunate that most places in the world view prisons as penal institutions, a place for punishment. Well into the twenty-first century and the idea of prisons as a place for redemption, rehabilitation and reformation of character are mostly absent. It appears that our desire for vengeance and punishment overwhelms our desire for a better society.

[KamaAina]

2. Nice first post!

Welcome to DU!

[Different Drummer]

4. This. Welcome to DU.

[Warren DeMontague]

3. If only Hitler had included a boob doodle in Mein Kampf, it would be banned.

[KamaAina]

5. Warren wins teh intertubes!!

[Major Nikon]

6. I can't imagine Chomsky doing a boob doodle

I suspect those doing the banning are closer politically to fascism than socialism