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Not by bread alone

“When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality, his mind does not become closed to ideas, his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions, his yearning for self-respect does not end, nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment.”

—Mr. Justice Thurgood Marshall

THERE is a line of thought about prisoners in this country. It goes something like this: Put them on an island and give them seeds. It’s a line of thought that’s more line than thought. There was a lot written about prisons and prisoners in a certain Book, and callousness wasn’t the theme.

Another line of thought about prisoners: They’re (mostly) there for a reason, but there’s no need to be cruel. After all, we have our souls to think about.

Those on the outside might have read the story: The sheriff’s office in Benton County removed almost all reading material from the jail last year. And not for nothing. A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said some inmates were damaging and destroying books, not to mention the plumbing.

Some inmates were using paper from the books to cover vents, which could make heating and air-conditioning systems work overtime. Or they were stuffing paper in toilets, causing cells to flood.

It’s a tricky business, jail. Your clients aren’t the best boarders. In fact, some of them can be the very worst. Then again, they still have certain rights.

Yes, courts have ruled that even prisoners have First Amendment rights to have books and papers. Which is why the ACLU of Arkansas is involved in this latest case, the local courts might be soon enough, and why this issue made the papers.

A jailer—which is the government, which is you—has to weigh security and basic maintenance with the very real rights of the inmates. And there are reasons other than our souls.

First, there’s rehabilitation. Some inmates have used their time behind bars to get not just high school diplomas, but college degrees. Literacy programs have proven to reduce recidivism. And somebody using his hands to hold a book isn’t idle. You know who uses idle hands as a workshop.

Surely something can be worked out before the courts work it out. We are given hope after the papers quoted a justice of the peace from Benton County, Joseph Bollinger, who sounds like he’s thought about the issue beyond something that can be slapped on a bumper sticker:

“The First Amendment, like all of our Constitution and its amendments, is essential to our liberty and the bedrock of our country. While I understand some inmates damaged reading materials, it is important to not punish the masses for the sins of the few. Destruction of property should be handled on an individual basis, and not a group consequence.”

And we are restored in our trust in the public servant.

There’s something else from the Book that we remember: Come, let us reason together. That’s another lesson, in a Book full of them.