The nation's largest book ban: Inside the fight to read in America's prisons

For many people who are incarcerated, a single book can be life-changing – a rare source of freedom and connection in a system built on isolation. That was true for Cherish Burtson, who discovered during her time in federal prison that reading could be a source of survival. Books became her escape, her education and a starting point to rebuild her life. But getting books behind bars isn't easy. Across the United States, correctional systems routinely ban or reject thousands of titles each year, reflecting deeper struggles over punishment, control and compassion.

Julia Dixon Evans

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KPBS

According to PEN America,  correctional facilities in all 50 states contribute to the nation's largest book ban, censoring more books than schools and libraries combined. This episode follows a group of San Diego volunteers working to get books past prison walls. It explores how the simple act of reading can restore a sense of humanity in even the harshest conditions — and what it says about who we are when we decide who gets to read.

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Volunteers write letters at a Books Through Bars San Diego book packing event at Groundwork Books on Dec. 7, 2024.

Julia Dixon Evans

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Books Through Bars San Diego receives an average of 150 letters each month, from prisons and correctional facilities across the country.

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Crates of packed books are shown ready to ship to prisons across the country during a Books Through Bars San Diego book packing event on Dec. 7, 2024.

Julia Dixon Evans

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Books Through Bars San Diego volunteer terry vargas says the organization shipped 1,200 books this year, nearly a metric ton. That's $6,295 in shipping costs.

Julia Dixon Evans

Guests:

• Cherish Burtson, substance use disorders counselor at Family Health Centers of San Diego
• Moira Marquis, Freewrite project senior manager at PEN America
• terry vargas, Books Through Bars San Diego volunteer

Watch the SDSU documentary "Voices, Bound," featuring Cherish Burtson and her work with Books Through Bars:

Sources:

• United States Incarceration Profile (Prison Policy Initiative)
• Incarceration Trends (Vera, 2024)
• Women’s Pathways to Serious and Habitual Crime: A Person-Centered Analysis Incorporating Gender Responsive Factors (Tim Brennan, Markus Breitenbach, William Dieterich, Emily J. Salisbury and Patricia van Voorhis Notes, Criminal Justice and Behavior via Sage Journals, 2012)
• East Bay Federal Prison Plagued by Sex Abuse Scandal Will Close Permanently (KQED, 2024)
• Time-In-Cell: A 2021 Snapshot of Restrictive Housing based on a Nationwide Survey of U.S. Prison Systems (The Correctional Leaders Association & The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School, 2022)
• COVID-19 Timeline (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
• Three State Prison Oversight During the COVID-19 Pandemic (John Howard Association of Illinois, the Correctional Association of New York and the Pennsylvania Prison Society, 2021)
• Groundwork Books Collective (Idealist)
• Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon (Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers, 2001)
• Books Thru Bars 2024 Impact (Books Through Bars San Diego via Instagram, 2024)
• Books Thru Bars Your Donation at a Glance (Books Through Bars San Diego via Instagram, 2025)
• Local prison book program brings connection and humanity despite censorship (Julia Dixon Evans, KPBS, 2024)
• Literature Locked Up How Prison Book Restriction Policies Constitute the Nation’s Largest Book Ban (James Tager, PEN America, 2019)
• Reading Between the Bars: An In-Depth Look at Prison Censorship (Moira Marquis and Juliana Luna, PEN America, 2023)
• Disapproved Publications (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
• Perfecting the Prison: United States, 1789-1865 (David J. Rothman, Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society via University of Minnesota Duluth, 1995)
• History of Eastern State Penitentiary (Eastern State)
• Deterrence and Incapacitation: A Quick Review of the Research (Laura Bennett and Felicity Rose, The Center for Just Journalism, 2025)
• Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025 (Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Initiative, 2025
• Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review (Damon M. Petrich, Travis C. Pratt, Cheryl Lero Jonson and Francis T. Cullen, University of Chicago Press Journals, 2021)
• Prison Banned Books Week: Books give incarcerated people access to the world, but tablets are often used to wall them off (Mike Wessler and Juliana Luna, Prison Policy Initiative, 2024)
• Books through Bars Stories from the Prison Books Movement (Dave "Mac" Marquis and Moira Marquis, University of Georgia, 2024)
  

We reached out to the Federal Bureau of Prisons with questions about book censorship, mailroom restrictions and the potential move toward tablets in federal facilities, including the now-closed FCI Dublin in California. The agency hasn’t responded to our request for comment.

From KPBS Public Media, The Finest is a podcast about the people, art and movements redefining culture in San Diego. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, Pandora, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

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