The Texas Department of Criminal Justice announced this week that it will no longer allow inmates to receive hardback or used books directly, and will stop accepting donated books altogether. Under the new policy, all books must first be reviewed and distributed by the Windham School District, which provides educational services to state prisoners. State corrections officials said the change is necessary to halt a wave of synthetic drug smuggling in which drug-laden solutions are soaked into book pages and mailed into facilities.
The department said hundreds of inmates have recently tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids and other substances, prompting the crackdown. The method of using book pages as a delivery vehicle for drugs forced a blanket restriction, officials argued, because screening every volume individually would be impractical.
But the rule drew immediate opposition from free-speech and prison-reform groups. Laney Hawes, co-founder of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, told the Associated Press that the state is effectively restricting access to ideas under the guise of security. “My concern is that they are restricting access to really, really important things, information, ideas to prisoners as a way to say they’re doing something,” Hawes said.
The TDCJ already maintains a list of thousands of banned book titles in its facilities. Advocates said the new review requirement — which places Windham district staff in control of what prisoners can receive — will sharply reduce the volume of literature, educational texts, and legal resources that reach inmates. The district, they said, does not have the capacity to process the volume of mail that previously flowed directly to prisoners, meaning many books will be indefinitely delayed or effectively blocked.
State officials have not provided data on how many drug-soaked books have been intercepted, or how many of the positive tests were linked specifically to books rather than other smuggling routes. The Texas Tribune and the Associated Press contributed reporting.