Texas Selective About What Prisoners Can Read; Bans 15,000 Books

One of the great scary movies of the 1990's is Martin Scorsese's version of Cape Fear. Robert DeNiro played killer Max Cady who amassed a large collection of books during his stay with the Department of Corrections. When asked if he wanted to take his books with him as he's leaving the prison, Cady answers, "Already read 'em."

Cady's collection might be a bit lighter if some in Texas have their way and ban more books from state prisons.

A report in the UK newspaper The Guardian shines a light on the book-banning practices of Texas prisons, which recently banned about 15,000 books.

"The Texas list is not just long but diverse. It includes former Senator Bob Dole’s World War II: An Illustrated History of Crisis and Courage; Jenna Bush’s Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope; Jon Stewart’s America; A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction; and 101 Best Family Card Games."

What?! Family card games? Why?

Some books have 'racial content' which means "The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, the Texas football classic Friday Night Lights, Flannery O’Conner Everything That Rises Must Converge, and Lisa Belkin’s Show Me a Hero, which depicts the struggle to desegregate housing in Yonkers, New York in the face of institutional racism" are all off limits. Again, head scratchers.

"But don’t worry: Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, David Duke’s Jewish Supremacism, and the Nazi Aryan Youth Primer are all kosher," as the paper points out.

The system for which books are banned? Your guess is as good as anyone's. Even federal prisons have banned President Obama's books according to the Guardian.

Read more about it - pun heavily intended - in The Guardian article and on Quartz.