Book about prison systems banned in Florida prisons

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After serving two years in prison for drugs, the memoir of a former inmate who started her journey as a criminal justice journalist is about to be banned permanently across bookshelves in Florida prisons.

Keri Blakinger, author of "Corrections in Ink", which details her life from being a drug addict to a prison inmate, says the book is in an "impound" phase, to be reviewed by a literary review committee, but no prisoner across Florida can read her book on rehabilitation. 

The Prison Book Program in Massachusetts notified her at first that her book would not be displayed inside the Okaloosa Correctional Institution in Florida, then the Florida Department of Corrections accused Blakinger's book of being inflammatory and threatening to rehab objectives.

"That's absurd. My book is literally about rehabilitation. It's about someone who was doing drugs, got sober, and carved out a new life," the author said. "I was almost surprised that this didn't happen sooner. Florida is one of the states that has an extensive banned book list, and it's pretty easy to end up on that list... but I think the part that made me laugh was the specific reasons."

The prison systems in the US are notorious for ill-treatment of inmates and for arbitrarily depriving them of literature. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found that more than 76% of incarcerated workers surveyed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics say that “they are required to work or face additional punishments such as solitary confinement, denial of opportunities to reduce their sentence, and loss of family visitation.”

Blakinger received letters from other inmates who expressed finding hope in her words: "So many of us who did time get out and sort of walk away from it and want to close that chapter in their life. And one of the things that I think gives people hope, in a way, that they may not see elsewhere, is that I made a career out of still going back into prisons," said Blakinger.

This week, the literary review committee pertaining to the Florida prison system will announce its decision regarding the permanent ban on Blakinger's book, but if banned, she would have the advantage of appealing the decision.