New Jersey recently lifted its prison ban on a book about the impact of mass incarceration on African Americans. According to The New York Times, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” a best seller by Michelle Alexander, was prohibited from two state prisons but the decision was reversed after the American Civil Liberties Union publicized a letter accusing the state of trying to block free speech.
The A.C.L.U described the ban as a direct violation of every inmate’s first amendment rights. “For the state burdened with this systemic injustice to prohibit prisoners from reading a book about race and mass incarceration is grossly ironic, misguided, and harmful,” the group wrote. “It is also unconstitutional.”
As a result, the New Jersey Department of Corrections rolled back the ban on Monday. NBC News reports that the New Jersey Department of Corrections said they are now “reviewing its policy on banned materials for appropriate revisions.”
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