Arizona prisons ban book on black men in legal system

PHOENIX — Arizona has banned prisoners from reading a book that discusses the impact of the criminal justice system on black men, drawing outcry from First Amendment advocates who say the move is censorship.

The American Civil Liberties Union called on the Arizona Department of Corrections this week to rescind the ban on “Chokehold: Policing Black Men.” The book by Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor, examines law enforcement and mass incarceration through its treatment of African American men.

“In order for them to ban a book, they have to show the restriction is related to a legitimate prison interest,” said Emerson Sykes, an ACLU attorney. “There’s no interest to keep inmates from learning about the criminal justice system and policing.”

Butler, a criminal law professor at Georgetown University, said his publisher was notified in March that his 2017 book had “unauthorized content.” The notice didn’t specify what led to the decision but warned some aspect of the book was “detrimental to the safe, secure, and orderly operation of the facility.”

Butler said he uses the title, which is a maneuver police have used to restrain a suspect by the neck, as a metaphor for how society and law subjugate black men. Nowhere does he advocate violent behavior.

Arizona’s corrections department prohibits inmates from receiving publications that contain any depictions that would incite or facilitate a riot, a resistance or stopping work. They also can’t contain pictures, illustrations or text that encourage “unacceptable sexual or hostile behaviors.” Any publications with sexually explicit material or sexual representations of inmates and law enforcement also are not permitted.

Corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder said the department had not yet received the ACLU’s letter asking for the ban to be reversed and declined further comment Monday.

Prison Legal News sued Arizona corrections officials in 2015 for refusing to deliver four issues in 2014. It said in court documents there were descriptions of “non-salacious” sexual contact between jail guards and prisoners when talking about incidents where inmates were sexually harassed. The case is set for trial later this year.