An Open Letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee: Stop Banning Books!
Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee, an ultra-conservative state in the heart of the Bible Belt, has banned the Bible in Tennessee prisons along with all other literature. How do I know this? I regularly send books to inmates via Amazon and other publishers, and we trade letters constantly.
Governor Lee cut off the sending of personal books years ago, and then made it possible only through publishers. Now he wants to jail publishers.
Here is an unsolicited letter I received yesterday from a resident of Northeast State Correctional Complex after ordering an Amazon instructional book familiar to all serious writers: The Elements of Style by Oliver Strunk, a piece of non-fiction totally devoid of politics, sex, or religion.
Here’s the refund note on the banned book:
Once Again: Tennessee representatives are attempting to send book publishers to prison.
Then we’ll see if they remove Tennessee residents’ First Amendment right to exchange personal correspondence. Authoritarian measures intensify every day, and the party of law and order seems to despise any law it didn’t personally order, reminiscent of the hush money scandal involving Trump and Diana Harshbarger’s prescription-drug-criminal husband.
Bill Lee is the type who watches his friends get slaughtered and then abolishes red flag laws.
That’s how much he cares for people, especially his “friends.”
I was a member of Kairos Prison Ministries for over a decade. This Christian ministry brings the joy of Jesus Christ into the lives of those struggling spiritually in confinement. They do a wonderful job of saving souls and bringing people to Christ.
But Kairos “let me go” after I posted a similar open letter two years ago. When it comes to social justice, Kairos would rather run than serve. Once your soul is saved, you are on your own, buddy. They stop by once a week to pray, sing a song, give you a cookie, and show they care by their physical presence. That’s fantastic. I wish I could still do it, but as it turns out letter writing goes much deeper as you get to know the inmates with detailed correspondence over long periods of time.
Inmates cannot put their names on letters to the Governor.
Retribution would be quick and damaging both spiritually and physically. A long period in solitary confinement awaits the upraised voice. This is also how they deal with the mentally-ill since the prison guard staff dwindled after COVID.
Here is an open letter to Bill Lee written by an inmate whose life was transformed after coming to Christ. You can feel that in his message. Read it.
Think of what life would be like if you were a newborn Christian, feeling spiritually reborn, and the governor takes the Bible away from you.
June 10, 2024
Dear Governor Bill Lee,
I, like many others, am disappointed in the direction your administration has taken the state. When you first took office, many prisoners, their families, and volunteers had high hopes for your positive reform agenda in the state’s criminal justice system. We have been greatly let down.
Your administration seems to believe it can suspend the First Amendment in the state’s prisons, denying prisoners their rights, including the right to their Holy Book—the Bible for many of us. As part of this denial, you also deny prisoners Bible studies, commentaries, and any other books that help us understand the Bible.
This suspension of the First Amendment does not come as a shock to you. Many concerned citizens, both incarcerated and free, have expressed their concerns to you via phone calls, letters, and emails. However, like many other members of your administration, you have ignored their pleas. Thus, I find the only avenue left is to publish an open letter to you to bring attention to our plight.
Although I could talk about the lack of prison or criminal justice reform, as well as the denial of all books critical to self-rehabilitation, I will focus on the denial of the Bible and its impact on those of us who have lost everything.
In 2019, after many years in prison, I turned my life over to God. My journey, like most here, began when I purchased my own Bible, one I could read at my leisure in my cell. For those of us who have no one else, the Bible has been our guide and comfort.
To us, the Bible is a letter from our Heavenly Father that we can open and read every day. It is a comfort. Just as a letter arriving in the mail can turn your day around, a letter from your Heavenly Father can turn your life around. However, although I use the analogy of comparing the Bible to a letter, it is much more than that to us here. It is a light to help us see a future as productive members of the body of Christ and a rehabilitation plan devised by the greatest Rehabilitator to ever live.
As you know, He rehabilitated a murderer once, turning Saul of Tarsus into the Great Apostle Paul. If He could do that, imagine what He can do in Tennessee’s prisons if His Word is allowed to enter through the prison’s mailroom. I know His Word has made an impact in my life.
In the past, many prisoners received a Bible alongside many prayers on their behalf from family members who sought God’s help. Their prayer: turn my son or daughter’s life around, help them find You, Lord. This works most times. Unfortunately, today their gift will go undelivered and their prayers will go unanswered because God’s Word is not allowed in Tennessee’s prisons. The Bible has been banned along with all other books that help us understand it.
Sadly, it seems to have fallen victim to the harsh sentiment that your administration has towards those in your charge—your neighbors. This is evidenced by the harsh, unforgiving laws this state has passed during your administration’s reign, as well as the continued erosion of the rehabilitation model in favor of warehousing.
Unfortunately, the forgiveness we find in the Bible is not found in your administration. Now, your administration seeks to keep us from finding forgiveness in the Bible by denying us access to it.
I must ask myself, do you not believe a man in prison has the right to know our Father in Heaven and receive His plan for us? Many of us believe the Bible means: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Does your administration not believe we are entitled to receive a Bible, a book filled with life’s answers?
If I am incorrect in assuming that you believe we are not entitled to have a Bible, please rescind your administration’s denial of books entering the prison system. Let us have access to the basic tools for rehabilitation. Let us receive the Bible, our Bible studies, and other books to help us improve ourselves so we can be better members of society.
Even if your administration continues to warehouse us here for the rest of our lives, we deserve to hear from our Heavenly Father through His Word.
I know this is harsh, and sadly, I mean it to be, as I, as a Christian, am sorely offended by your administration’s denial of the Bible to Christian prisoners. In closing, I have questions I hope you will pose to yourself: Are the prisoners in your charge your neighbors? Did God put you in your position to make a difference, or are you just another tare destroying Jesus’s wheat field?
Sincerely,
One of any disappointed Tennessee Prisoners, Family Members, and Volunteers
I couldn’t figure out what the State was thinking, banning books.
Then I talked to another writer, incarcerated in the Blount Country Jail. He was arrested as a juvenile, tried as an adult, and given a life sentence. Now the same prosecutor that got him sentenced to life in prison wants to double up the life sentence so my friend will surely die in prison.
After being incarcerated, my friend went on a Kairos Walk — he chose to follow Jesus — then used his ambition and intellect to pick himself up, graduating first in his college class while earning a degree. Then he went on to teach other inmates Bible studies.
His reward for changing his life and going in a positive direction?
A double life sentence with no chance of parole.
When the governor turns his back on his own people and removes the red flag laws (that prevent crazy people from purchasing guns), you can expect the same level of empathy to trickle down to the populace, especially the incarcerated.
Bill Lee describes himself as a Christian, after all.
At the moment there are 185 juveniles with life sentences in Tennessee.
And now the book and Bible bans make sense.
Here is the scam the legislature and the governor foisted on the prison population and the citizens of the state of Tennessee as reported from the Blount County Jail.
Way back in 2016 — eight years ago — they promised an electronic tablet distribution. Of course, they never bought the tablets and therefore never distributed them.
It was all a cover to eliminate paper and books from Tennessee prisons.
And if they ever DO distribute tablets, the cost per day would eliminate most usage.
Turns out to be one more scam to strip prisoners from their slave pay. Imagine that.
So, Governor Bill Lee. The ball is in your court. Our savior only asks us to do two things: Love God and Love Your Neighbor.
Your behavior exhibits disrespect to both.
And that will have a price.
We're just waiting to see how justice prevails, as always. The Big Guy requires patience, but history shows us over and over that evil destroys everything, including itself.
One Response
if you are the Hillpoet on bandmix, and want some info about 3 guys that play music regularly on Friday nights, or more, send me an email and I’ll send info. Retired teacher too.