Each year, Prison Banned Books Week brings attention to a pervasive yet often overlooked form of censorship—the systematic restriction of reading materials in prisons and jails across the United States. This year’s campaign (October 19-25, 2025) is just coming to an end, but the efforts to bring prison censorship to light continue every day, as dedicated activists, advocates, and volunteers work to reduce barriers to information access behind bars.
Read morePrison Banned Books Week 2023
The inaugural Prison Banned Books Week led by PEN America launched on October 25, 2023. The campaign was introduced to spread awareness of censorship in prisons and how censorship uniquely affects people who are incarcerated, many of whom are part of an already statistically marginalized community.
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