In October, the South Carolina Department of Corrections began restricting the number of places from which prisoners can receive books, which has caused major disruptions for people in my facility.
The approved vendors include Hamilton Book, Books N Things Warehouse, Books to Inmates, SureShot Books Publishing and the online stores of Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million. Noticeably absent from the list was Amazon and any of the nationwide free books-to-prisoners organizations. The list also did not include a single university or college.
Before October, there had only been restrictions on the subject matter of books, which still continue.
Incarcerated people at MacDougall Correctional Institution, where I’m detained, say the book policy has impacted their studies.
“The biggest obstacle we’re facing with correspondence college programs is that this new policy is being interpreted in its strictest sense,” said one person working on his master’s in substance abuse counseling from an accredited university. He added that he believed “even class assignments are being rejected as coming from unapproved vendors.”
Another man said that books he ordered and paid for before the policy change had also been rejected.
“My entire next semester’s texts were sent, but I received a notice telling me I couldn’t have them since it was not from an approved vendor,” said the man, in his second year of a bachelor’s program. “When I tried to explain that it was from a university and not a bookseller, it was like I was speaking Klingon or something.”
In such cases, prison staff have given people the choice of paying for return postage or simply having the “contraband books” destroyed.
Everyone I spoke to for this story requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
In an email to a Prison Journalism Project editor, Chrysti Shain, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Department of Corrections said that the policy was created to help stop the flow of drugs into state prisons. Shain said SCDC had concerns about books being handled by people working at “unverified brick and mortar stores prior to shipment.”
“By requiring that all book orders come directly from established, nationally recognized online retailers, SCDC can ensure that materials are shipped securely from controlled commercial distribution centers — minimizing risks while still allowing for extensive access to reading material,” Shain said.
Shain denied that academic materials were being rejected on a widespread or regular basis, adding that the institution’s leadership was working with those who were taking correspondence courses to ensure they received their materials.
“If an inmate has had coursework denied, they have not communicated with staff about it. We know of no instance in which this is true,” Shain said.
Writers, poets and artists also say the policy has prevented them from receiving books and publications they were published in.
“My art was just released as part of an inmate collection by a publisher out in California,” one artist told me. “I was so excited when I got the letter telling me that my art was going to be published only to have the mailroom reject the anthology. I didn’t have the funds to mail it home, so I guess they just put it in the trash.”
According to Shain, the policy change coincided with a six-month investigation into a scheme in which a former employee and an incarcerated person mailed books with drug-laced pages to at least 20 incarcerated people across 14 prisons. Through the investigation, SCDC agents discovered 666 pages soaked in synthetic marijuana and 241 Suboxone strips in the packages. All of the shipments were disguised as being shipped from a bookstore.
Last fall, Shain said, 15 incarcerated people at McCormick Correctional Institution overdosed and two of them died from drugs that SCDC believes were paper soaked in fentanyl-tainted K2.
“The new policy allows inmates to receive books from reputable booksellers, and no one to be injured or killed by the contents,” Shain said. “It provides a level of safety that was not there before.”
One staffer I spoke to at my facility said the prison had previously intercepted books with illegal substances sprayed on paper and even books being mailed in from fabricated book vendors.
“Books have been received in revised Amazon boxes — that were not from Amazon — that contained controlled substances,” he said. “It’s often a real challenge to determine what’s authentic and what’s bogus.”
“We’re just following directives,” said another staff member. “We didn’t make this new policy, but we have no choice but to follow it.”
Both requested anonymity because they were not permitted to speak to the media.
Prior to the new policy, there was a daily list of prisoners called to the mailroom to sign for and receive books. Now, days go by when no one is called.
“It’s like it always is in prison — if one person messes up, everybody pays for it,” one old-timer told me. “I have been down near ’bout 30 years and I ain’t never seen it no different.”
“Typical knee-jerk response,” said another person. “Instead of punishing the ones responsible, they punish everyone.”
