Justice Secretary Chris Grayling MP answered the various points about the ‘ban’ on prisoners receiving books and then Ian Dunt answered him point by point in an article in this month’s excellent Inside Time. A sample: Chris Grayling’s point that if a prisoner has engaged with their own rehabilitation in prison, he will be on a higher level in the Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme, and so would have more money to spend on books if he so chooses. Ian Dunt writes that although [Grayling] later goes on briefly to make the case for the role of reading in improving literacy, this sentence shows that [he] fundamentally views books as a reward, not a part of the rehabilitation process.
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” Frederick Douglass 