The Rehabilitation Through Reading Act of 2026 is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was recently introduced in the Senate and sent to the Committee on the Judiciary for review. No further actions are scheduled at this time.
The bill is supported only by Democrats and faces a tough path in a divided Congress where prison reforms are often debated heavily.
Key Points
Schiff's bill would stop federal prisons from banning books on their own. Instead, a new committee would have to approve any request to remove a book from a prison library.
The new committee would include a mix of people, such as a professional librarian, a legal expert on free speech, and even someone currently serving time in federal prison.
Prisons would no longer be allowed to ban books just because they do not like the ideas inside or find the content unpopular. The goal is to protect the rights of inmates to read and learn.
Inmates would gain the right to appeal current book bans. If they challenge a ban before a book is removed, the prison must keep the book on the shelves until the committee makes a final decision.
The Bureau of Prisons would have to send a report to Congress every year. This report would list every book that was banned and explain what happened with any appeals filed by inmates.
Impact Analysis
Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.
Milestones
2 milestones2 actions
Apr 16, 2026Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Apr 16, 2026
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
