by Bailey Hendricks
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Inmates incarcerated at Maryland state correctional facilities can now enjoy “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and other controversial classics thanks to efforts by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland.
The ACLU of Maryland was successful this summer in getting the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DOC) to nullify a new policy that limited prisoners’ access to books. The civil liberties group touted First Amendment rights and described as “senseless and harsh” the policy that banned third-party book orders and limited prisoners to 10 books from only two vendors.
“… effective immediately, inmates will be allowed to receive books from family and third parties in the mail,” DOC Secretary Stephen Moyer said in June in a letter responding to the ACLU request. “Additionally, there will not be a cap on the frequency by which inmates may order books from approved vendors.”
Staff Attorney Sonia Kumar said the ACLU was glad the DOC “withdrew its unconscionable and arbitrary policy but remain deeply troubled that it was adopted in the first place.”
Moyer and other state officials expressed strong concerns that inmates and their families may use books to smuggle drugs into the facilities. The main drug of interest? Suboxone, a prescription drug used for treatment of opioid dependence.
“What may appear to be a seemingly harmless novel could be concealing drugs and weapons used to fuel institutional violence and corruption,” Moyer said.
In a recent interview with The Baltimore Watchdog, DOC spokesman Gerard Shields said that increasing security was a way for the policy to be revoked.
“After we implemented the rule, there was a lot of concern about it,” said Shields. “We went back and took a look at our security procedures and realized that we could increase security, which would probably help in allowing the books to be sent in.”
Kumar requested the policy change in a letter sent to the DOC on May 31. According to the ACLU, the book vendors that prisoners were limited to did not allow them access to such classic novels as “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Alex Haley, as well as all books in the Harry Potter series or written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Langston Hughes.
“We continue to hear from people who are incarcerated and their families about the importance that books play in their efforts at self-improvement,” Kumar said. “We are grateful to the people who shared their stories with us and sounded the alarm on everyone’s behalf.”
Shields explained that the reason that the policy limited the inmates to getting books from only two vendors, was to try to control third-party book providers, family members, and others from sending drugs to inmates.
Suboxone is a drug that comes in small orange strips that can be hidden behind postage stamps or inside book pages.
“It’s very easy to get into prison because it’s like a breath strip,” Shields explained. “And what people do is they’ll slice an envelope, stuff it in there, put it behind a stamp, and so, that’s one of the concerns that we had.”
Moyer described the drug as “extremely dangerous” and “nearly undetectable.” Suboxone can cause life-threatening respiratory illness, overdose and death, he said.
The manufacturing company for Suboxone said the drug helps addicts reduce the withdrawal symptoms of opioids, including heroin and oxycodone. The active ingredients in the man-made drug are buprenorphine, an opioid, and Naloxone, an antagonist that blocks opioid effects, officials said.
While officials insist the drug is intended to help wean addicts off of opioids, some people use the drug recreationally in place of opioids. Officials said that many strips of the drug film would have to be used to create a high.
Moyer said the DOC records show that there have been 44 instances in which Suboxone was found in books since 2015, amounting to 660 strips.
Shields said the drug was selling on the street for $3, and in prison it was selling for $50.
“It creates this black market and it creates turf wars no different from on the street,” said Shields, who described the drug as the number one contraband that they have in the facility.
“So, the idea was to try to cut down at it as much as we can in order to reduce violence,” Shields said. “Inmates who are on it are more susceptible to assault another inmate or an officer.”
Shields said the department understands the importance of books to rehabilitation but stressed that security in the facilities is “the thing we have to be most concerned with.”
“We have college programs in our facilities,” he said. “We have one of the models of the nation in Goucher College in there, we give out GEDs to inmates. Most of the inmates who do well get educated in the facilities, but the security of the facility is paramount.”
Shields said one way for the DOC to prioritize security is to make books personal property when they come through the mail. This means books will have to go to the personal property section of the facility to get inspected more heavily.
“It’s still a problem,” Shields said. “Last week we had a third-party vendor send in a book with a bunch of Suboxone in it and we found it. So, it is a concern and it will remain a concern. But we’ll be vigilant to stop it.”
While trying to make sure the smuggling of Suboxone stops, Shields said the department still understands the need for prisoners to get books.
“Books are really the only way that inmates get behind the fences,” Shields said. “They can read a book and their imagination can take them outside the prison.”
Shields recognized that finding the balance of giving prisoners access to books and keeping the facilities safe is still a challenge.
“We don’t want to hold that from them,” he said. “But in the same sense, life and death is critical to us.”
Both prison officials and the ACLU have found support in the community.
Baltimore County resident Ashley Masucci was skeptical about the DOC restricting prisoner’s books for other reasons besides drugs.
“I feel like [drug smuggling] isn’t the only reason they banned the books,” Masucci said. “When you’re limiting the different types of books to only two vendors and you can’t read books like Harry Potter or Martin Luther King Jr., where there is a strong leader in these books, it makes you question is that really the reason why?”
However, Erica Ridge, also a Baltimore County resident, said she sees the safety component of restricting the books prisoners have and recognized it may be necessary.
“If they were indeed smuggling drugs through the books, I think it is right they [DOC] said ‘okay, well you can’t have these books anymore,’ ” said Ridge. “Since I found out the [prisoners] were abusing what they were given, I don’t know that they should have them.”