(Texas Scorecard) – The Texas Department of Criminal Justice bans sexually explicit books from state prisons, but some public school libraries enable children to access those same books.
According to TDCJ’s policy, inmates are not allowed to obtain magazines or books that contain “graphic presentations of sexual behavior that violates the law, such as rape, incest, sex with a minor, bestiality, or necrophilia,” or sexually explicit images.
A list from the TDCJ—which included more than 10,000 books—designated books such as “Flamer,” “Gender Queer,” and “Blankets” among the sexually explicit materials denied to inmates.
“Flamer” is categorized as a young adult graphic novel and chronicles the experiences of main character Aiden Navarro as he attends summer camp before starting ninth grade. The novel features discussions of sexually explicit topics, partial nudity, and allusions to masturbation.
The book “Gender Queer” is a memoir about the author’s “journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.” Some of the images depicted include sex toys, graphic illustrations of two people performing sex acts on one another, and nudity.
Yet these same books that inmates cannot possess have been allowed to remain in school libraries for children to view.
For instance, in Fort Worth Independent School District, Austin ISD, Houston ISD, and Dallas ISD, “Flamer” is in various high school libraries.
“Gender Queer” is also readily available to students in Austin ISD and Houston ISD. Fort Worth ISD and Dallas ISD do not have the book on its shelves.
Similarly, the book “Blankets” also contains sexually explicit material and is allowed on Austin ISD and Houston ISD’s school library shelves.
Bonnie Wallace, who has traveled across Texas protesting explicit materials for children and asking school districts to protect those entrusted to their care, told Texas Scorecard that she finds it disheartening that prisoners are better protected than children.
“I recently was given the TDCJ list of over 10,000 books which they prohibit from Texas prisoners. I find it interesting, and quite sad, that the minds of hardened criminals in the Texas penal system are better protected than the minds of our impressionable minors in Llano High School and in High Schools throughout Texas,” said Wallace. “Let’s do better than we are doing. Because we are failing to protect our children. Can’t we protect children in Texas, too?”
A former inmate who spent ten years in a Texas prison, David Stokely, explained to Texas Scorecard that he has vowed to help youth stay on the right path. He began going to school board meetings and reading sexually explicit books to show the dangers of allowing those books to be available to innocent children.
“The first book I was asked to read before the Board was ‘A Court of Silver Flames’ by Sarah J. Maas. I couldn’t read most of what I had prepared because I started tearing up in anger and hurt for these kids. As a father of three daughters, imagining them reading this made me sick to my stomach,” explained Stokely. “I told the team with Mrs. Wallace that the TDCJ wouldn’t allow us ‘hardened criminals’ to receive books like this in prison, so why would they allow this for innocent children and call it ‘censorship’ when we try to get them removed?”
Brady Gray, president of Texas Family Project, told Texas Scorecard that parents should demand their local districts protect children from obscene material.
“It is unconscionable that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is more prudent in protecting the hearts and minds of already incarcerated criminals than the Texas Education Agency and the State Board of Education are in protecting that of children in this state,” said Gray. “If it was not already clear enough, this should be the final straw for local school boards to take back control, be proactive, and rid their schools of this perversion.”
“Demand more from your local districts, demand more from the state agencies, and be diligent in what your kids are being exposed to,” he added.
Lawmakers passed House Bill 900 by State Rep. Jared Patterson (R–Frisco) in 2023. HB 900 prohibits school libraries from housing materials that are sexually explicit, vulgar, or educationally unsuitable. It also sets up state standards for keeping inappropriate sexual content out of all school libraries and classrooms.
The standards allow school district leadership to remove sexually explicit books from library shelves, yet many have elected not to remove the objectionable materials.