In Texas prisons, censorship is practiced on a large scale. Strict correspondence rules and practices apply. Following a class action lawsuit in 1971, many of these restrictions were declared unconstitutional in several rulings, culminating in a settlement in 1983. However, this settlement was restricted by the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) in the 1990s and finally terminated in 2002. Since then, the rules of correspondence in Texas prisons have been amended several times, always including the practice of censorship. In these matters, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is the responsible authority.
Prison censorship means that prisoners are denied access to literature. Book mailings from relatives or friends are withheld. Censorship in Texas prisons has actually increased significantly, with the number of new titles placed on the index each year rising sharply, especially in recent years. Not only books about civil rights or freedom movements are on the index, but also Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Stephen King, George Orwell or Gustave Flaubert (not, however, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler).
One rule says: Materials containing descriptions or depictions of sexual content and sexually explicit images are prohibited. This rule is actually the most common reason given for the censorship of books, including classics and award-winning literary works discussing rape or incest. Moreover, books are banned for containing even brief explicit passages, regardless of whether the context is clinical, artistic or educational.
All this is detailed in a 2011 report by the Texas Civil Rights Project: Banned Books in the Texas Prison System: How the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Censors Books Sent to Prisoners. In this first survey, the human rights organization lists all titles banned in Texas prisons. This index has been part of the Kasseler Liste since 2019.
The 2011 report by the Texas Civil Rights Project lists the causes of censorship for the 11,851 banned books. The dominant category in the justification of book bans is “Deviant” Sexual Behavior (7,061), followed by Strikes, Gangs and Riots (1,774), Manufacture Drugs/Weapons (1,307), Criminal Instructions (976), Contraband (637 titles), Sexually Explicit Images (543) (p. 14).
Many criticize the TDCJ’s index as arbitrary and harmful. However, despite protests against this restrictive censorship, the situation has hardly changed to date. In 2017, for example, more than 10,000 books were still banned in Texas prisons (see https://www.bookstoprisoners.net/banned-books-lists for the ban lists until 2024). Some critics of prison censorship argue that prisoners have a right to books with inflammatory content (Procunier v. Martinez (1974), US Supreme Court). Others emphasize the proven benefits of promoting reading and writing for resocialization.
More recently, there is an interesting report on the relationship between censorship and gender in relation to Texas prison censorship: Bound Knowledge: The Impact of Book Bans on Incarcerated Women and LGBTQIA+ People In Texas (2024). It begins with a diagnosis: “In Texas, a concerning trend particularly impacting women who are incarcerated has emerged within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) – a systematic banning of books, magazines, newspapers, and other reading material.” (p. 5) The report comes from the University of Texas Law Civil Rights Clinic, in collaboration with the Civil Rights Clinic at Texas A&M University School of Law and the Lioness Justice Impacted Alliance. It shows how women and LGBTQ+ people are particularly affected by the increasingly stricter book bans.
The authors of the Bound Knowledge-report from 2024 received the current list of banned books in Texas prisons – with over 10,200 entries – from the TDCJ via Public Information Act Request (see p. 25, note 28). They made it available online. This list of banned books is part of the Kasseler Liste since August 2025. You can find both Texas lists from 2011 and 2024: Enter “Texas prisons” under “Country of Ban” and enter the year 2011 or 2024 under “Source”.
Die Kasseler Liste, August 2025
Image Source: Kasseler Liste, based on a photo from pixabay