UK Parliament member Philip Davies is claiming that British prisoners have a better reading selection than public library patrons.
In an address to the House of Commons, Davies explained his reasoning. The Telegraph has more:
Mr Davies said: “In a recent Parliamentary Question it was confirmed that £106 per prisoner is spent on libraries in prison. From a recent Freedom of Information request I did, I found out that in Leeds prison there are ten-and-a-half books per prisoner. In Wakefield prison there are 16.9 books per prisoner.
“By contrast, in the libraries in my constituency for the general public, there is only about one book per person. Would the Secretary of State agree with me that rather than prisoners being denied reading material, actually they are far better served than the general public?”
The comments come in the context of British justice ministers pushing legislation that would limit the number of books that prisoners in England and Wales could receive from friends and family. The ministers argue that the policy would help promote a new “incentives and earned privileges” regime in which prisoners who behave well can buy books through the prison’s book selling program. Writers have called the move barbaric, arguing that prisoners shouldn’t have limits put on their access to reading.