The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation – Goethe

I know I have developed a reputation for being as wet as a lettuce on prison reform, so no doubt what I am about to write will just burnish that reputation.

When I heard that the government was banning friends and family from sending books to prisoners in jail I almost scratched my head in disbelief. If you’re banged up in a cell for 23 hours a day, surely allowing prisoners free access to books is just the sort of thing a prison governor would want to encourage just to keep them occupied. If you believe the maxim that the devil makes work for idle hands it is a pretty obvious thing to do.

In November the government decided to ban family and friends from sending any packages into prisons, not just packages containing books. They justify it on the basis that drugs and other things were being sent, hidden in packages. An understandable response maybe, but in my view totally over the top. I did an hour’s phone in on my show on this on Monday, which Chris Grayling got to hear about. Later in the evening he texted me refuting the allegation that books were being banned. Er, that was never the allegation actually. I quite understand that prisons have libraries so books are indeed available to prisoners, but quite often they have a fairly restricted choice. They are not run by prisons but by local authorities. Chris also explained that prisoners were still able to buy books themselves through their allowances or money they have earned. On the face of it a fair point, but in reality a smokescreen. If a prisoner earns £4 a week he or she is likely to spend it on necessities rather than a book, which inevitably will cost a lot more anyway.

If there is such a problem with smuggling things into prison I don’t think it is unfair to suggest that the Prison Service needs to look at its security procedures. And in addition, would it be beyond the wit of the Ministry of Justice to come to an arrangement with Amazon or Waterstone’s so family and friends could order books from them to be delivered securely by them to prisons? Apparently so. Chris Grayling points our that prisoners can order via Amazon or Waterstone’s but the deliveries have to go via the prison shop.

Prison is indeed about punishment, but it is also about rehabilitation. You don’t have to be left wing to believe that. It is the mark of an decent society. I have a lot of respect for Chris Grayling, but i think he has got this one wrong, and that is why I have signed the letter along with 80 others, organised by the Howard League for Penal Reform to urge him to think again. He may regard the organisation with disdain, but on this one I think they are right. Here’s the letter …

SIR – We are extremely concerned at new rules that ban family and friends sending books to prisoners. While we understand that prisons must be able to apply incentives to reward good behaviour by prisoners, we do not believe that education and reading should be part of that policy.

Books represent a lifeline behind bars, a way of nourishing the mind and filling the many hours that prisoners spend locked in their cells. In an environment with no internet access and only limited library facilities, books become all the more important.

We urge Chris Grayling, the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, to reconsider the Prison Service instruction that limits books and other essentials being sent to prisoners from family and friends.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive, Howard League for Penal Reform
Mark Haddon

Salman Rushdie

Julian Barnes

Ian McEwan

Carol Ann Duffy

Alan Bennett

Philip Pullman

Jeffrey Archer

Irvine Welsh

Joanne Harris

Hari Kunzru

Ian Rankin

Nick Hornby

Deborah Moggach

Ruth Padel

Mary Beard

Sir David Hare

Colin Thubron

Maggie Fergusson, Director, The Royal Society of Literature

Simon Stephens

Laura Wade

Samantha Ellis

David Edgar

Jack Thorne

John O’Farrell

Caitlin Moran

David Harsent

Linda Grant

Andrew O’Hagan

Iain Dale

David Eldridge

D C Moore

Caroline Moorehead

Stella Feehily

Alecky Blythe

Moira Buffini

Lucinda Coxon

Susannah Clapp

Kathryn Gray

April De Angelis

Elif Shafak

Vivienne Franzmann

Tim Gee

Colin Beveridge

Melanie McFadyean

Melanie McGrath

Shami Chakrabarti, Director, Liberty

Jenny Diski

Stella Duffy

Janice Galloway

Jackie Kay

Darian Leader

James Robertson

Niall Griffiths

Kamila Shamsie

Kathy Lette

Terence Blacker

Alice Rawsthorn

Jenni Fagan

Blake Morrison

Tiffany Murray

Rhian Jones

Rachel Holmes

Robin Tudge

Ahdaf Soueif

Nikesh Shukla

Sophie Mayer

Nikita Lalwani

Peter Hobbs

Maggie O’Farrell

Ian Dunt

Naomi Alderman

Lise Mayer

William Fiennes

Bidisha

Ali Smith

Helen Walsh