In light of a potential lawsuit, the Virginia Department of Corrections decided Tuesday to reinstate Charlottesville Quest Bookshop as part of the Books Behind Bars program, reversing a previous decision to cancel the shop's link to the program.
Last week, officials, having found several undisclosed items stashed in books, forbade Quest Bookshop to participate in the program, which provides inmates with reading materials. Officials alleged that loved ones of prisoners were volunteering at the bookstore to sneak illicit items into the prison.
Quest Bookshop owner Kay Allison, after learning about the ban, said employees "were very distressed because we couldn't imagine sitting in a cell without books." For about 20 years, the Books Behind Bars program, led by Allison's shop, has supplied more than one million books for Virginia prison inmates.
In an interview last week, Michael Leininger, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections, noted that Quest was not the only organization providing books for the program and was simply removed from the vendor list.
Quest, though, represented by the Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute, fought the prohibition and will now resume its participation in the program.
While "the prison officials have a right to inspect the books," taking the books away violates the First Amendment, Rutherford founder John W. Whitehead said. When he spoke with the Department of Corrections, Whitehead said, "we threatened, obviously, that we would file a lawsuit."
University English Prof. Deborah McDowell added that the program offered far-reaching benefits for prisoners, saying that the decision to overturn the ban is important because it ensures prisoners' access to educational materials.
"It's one of the few avenues through which inmates can receive books that they can call their own, so anyone interested in education and expansion would find the program," McDowell said, adding that it is "a very important program." Whitehead also noted that the program helps with prisoner rehabilitation.
Three books are now allowed per prisoner each month.
"State officials generally don't know the law," Whitehead said. "If they had known the law, they wouldn't have done this."
Leininger could not be reached as of press time.
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