Local student pits ACLU versus union
Author: Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
CLAREMONT - A local graduate student's stalled thesis has pitted the American Civil Liberties Union against the Bureau of Prisons over the attempted removal of religious material from prison chapel libraries.
The ACLU on Thursday demanded that the bureau release all records related to its Standardized Chapel Library Project after the bureau largely rebuffed a similar request from Claremont Graduate University student Joshua C. Harris.
Harris' initially sought records from the bureau as part of his coursework for a master's degree in religious studies.
Harris' thesis is on the 2007 implementation of the Standardized Chapel Library Project, which allows bureau officials to purge from prison chapel libraries material not on an "acceptable" list.
Among the titles banned at the time were Maimonides' "Code of Jewish Law" and "The Purpose Driven Life" by the Rev. Rick Warren, who gave the invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January.
"There's an accountability issue here of who is doing the list," Harris said Thursday. "Who are those people that are making big decisions on what is religion?"
A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment Thursday.
David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project, said his organization is involved because "this is about getting full access to illegally banned materials in the prison chapel libraries."
Shapiro said "it's not the role of government to decide what is religiously acceptable and what isn't."
Harris, who moved a few months ago to Santa Barbara to start his doctorate in religious studies at UC Santa Barbara, said he has received four documents from the BOP since his Freedom of Information Act request was filed in April.
Harris said he asked for "any/all documents that detail the reasoning behind, and implementation of, the Standardized Chapel Library Project."
Harris said he that it took five months for the bureau to produce the four documents.
"I think they did a pretty sloppy job on the request," Harris said.
Harris became interested in his thesis topic when he spent two months in a federal prison for committing an act of civil disobedience during a protest of the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga.
The School of the Americas, which since 2001 has been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, has been attacked for teaching tactics of torture and training Latin American soldiers and policemen that have later been found to have committed human rights violations.
Harris was one of about 25,000 protesters to demonstrate at the base. He and about 15 others walked onto the base, and he was arrested and charged with trespassing.
"They called it crossing the line," Harris said. "We did it as a form of passive resistance or civil disobedience."
Harris served his time at Taft Correctional Institution, where he learned of the Standardized Chapel Library Project.
Shapiro said the policy potentially "would prevent prisoners from practicing their religion and accessing religious books. Being able to read books key to religion is as important to religious practice as is preaching from the pulpit or any form of religious exercise."
Shapiro said he understood the government's position on Harris' request to a point.
"When there is a legitimate genuine security concern, the BOP can limit religious materials in prison," Shapiro said. "But this is a case where the BOP has gone too far. It is an abuse of authority to needlessly ban religious books and the BOP needs to follow the law and not engage in needlessly banning religious material."
Staff writer Neil Nisperos ontributed to this report.
The ACLU on Thursday demanded that the bureau release all records related to its Standardized Chapel Library Project after the bureau largely rebuffed a similar request from Claremont Graduate University student Joshua C. Harris.
Harris' initially sought records from the bureau as part of his coursework for a master's degree in religious studies.
Harris' thesis is on the 2007 implementation of the Standardized Chapel Library Project, which allows bureau officials to purge from prison chapel libraries material not on an "acceptable" list.
Among the titles banned at the time were Maimonides' "Code of Jewish Law" and "The Purpose Driven Life" by the Rev. Rick Warren, who gave the invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January.
"There's an accountability issue here of who is doing the list," Harris said Thursday. "Who are those people that are making big decisions on what is religion?"
A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment Thursday.
David Shapiro, staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project, said his organization is involved because "this is about getting full access to illegally banned materials in the prison chapel libraries."
Shapiro said "it's not the role of government to decide what is religiously acceptable and what isn't."
Harris, who moved a few months ago to Santa Barbara to start his doctorate in religious studies at UC Santa Barbara, said he has received four documents from the BOP since his Freedom of Information Act request was filed in April.
Harris said he asked for "any/all documents that detail the reasoning behind, and implementation of, the Standardized Chapel Library Project."
Harris said he that it took five months for the bureau to produce the four documents.
"I think they did a pretty sloppy job on the request," Harris said.
Harris became interested in his thesis topic when he spent two months in a federal prison for committing an act of civil disobedience during a protest of the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga.
The School of the Americas, which since 2001 has been renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, has been attacked for teaching tactics of torture and training Latin American soldiers and policemen that have later been found to have committed human rights violations.
Harris was one of about 25,000 protesters to demonstrate at the base. He and about 15 others walked onto the base, and he was arrested and charged with trespassing.
"They called it crossing the line," Harris said. "We did it as a form of passive resistance or civil disobedience."
Harris served his time at Taft Correctional Institution, where he learned of the Standardized Chapel Library Project.
Shapiro said the policy potentially "would prevent prisoners from practicing their religion and accessing religious books. Being able to read books key to religion is as important to religious practice as is preaching from the pulpit or any form of religious exercise."
Shapiro said he understood the government's position on Harris' request to a point.
"When there is a legitimate genuine security concern, the BOP can limit religious materials in prison," Shapiro said. "But this is a case where the BOP has gone too far. It is an abuse of authority to needlessly ban religious books and the BOP needs to follow the law and not engage in needlessly banning religious material."
Staff writer Neil Nisperos ontributed to this report.
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