Bureau of Prisons to Return Confiscated Religious Materials

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Prisons will return most religious materials that were removed from prison chapel libraries following protests from religious leaders, civil rights activists and members of Congress.

The materials were removed in a systematic purge of religious books and materials from federal prison libraries throughout the United States as part of the bureau’s new Standardized Chapel Library Project.

The bureau’s initial reluctance to discontinue the project, after its existence came to light during a class-action lawsuit, prompted several religious groups and civil rights activists to publicly rebuke the bureau for creating lists of acceptable religious materials. Amid the growing opposition and calls for an immediate reversal of the policy, the Bureau announced that it would begin returning the majority of banned materials.

However, it appears the project will be modified rather than completely shelved, with the bureau refusing to return what it deems inappropriate materials, such as those that radicalize or incite violence, officials say.

Under the Standardized Chapel Library Project, the bureau directed prison chaplains to remove any books, tapes, CDs and videos that were not on a new federal list of approved resources, officials say. The bureau hoped its initiative would eliminate inmate access to materials that advocate discrimination and violence and breed intolerance and radicalism, officials say.

The initiative came in the wake of a 2004 Justice Department report by the Office of the Inspector General that recommended creating a set of policy measures to keep prisons from becoming recruiting grounds for radical religious groups following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The bureau’s list of approved materials, which was set to be expanded in October and updated occasionally thereafter, contains approximately 300 book and multimedia titles for each of the bureau’s 20 designated religious categories, officials say.

Regular worship materials, such as prayer books, were not affected by the initiative, officials say. However, the lists of approved titles and identities of the bureau experts who developed the lists were not made public.

Prior to the bureau project, all donated materials had to be approved by prison officials, although inmates could purchase their own religious- or faith-based materials.

Federal efforts to bar inmate access to the materials became public in May after several inmates at a federal facility 75 miles north of New York City filed a class-action lawsuit. The class-action lawsuit claimed that bureau actions under the Standardized Chapel Library Project violate the right to unfettered exercise of religion as guaranteed under the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.