Books for Crooks

Looking for a way to make sure your used paperbacks go to a good home? How about donating them to a place where the residents are desperate for something new to read? Most prisons and jails in the country accept donations of used paperback books and magazines. Books are often kept on the library cart until it falls apart, held together only by duct tape. With one percent of our population in jails, providing opportunities to keep them out of jail in the future is an increasingly difficult challenge for society. Over 50% of inmates have not graduated from high school, the average has a 4th grade reading level - hardly the bookish type. In spite of their academic handicaps, some prisons report library (and library cart) usage as high as 80%. The fastest way to improve reading ability is to read. Prisoners who take advantage of libraries and book carts can and do use their time to improve their chances of a successful life outside the prison system. Your donations of books can help transform an illiterate punk into a person ready for a healthy life.

Some Existing Projects:

The Freedom Reads Book Club at the Mecklenburg County Jail North (a youthful offender housing facility)reports that popular subjects are not what one would expect from 16- to 17-year-old males. Instead of fast cars and sports, the genres include poetry and parenting. Discussions of books the group reads are also held. The Prison Library Project is a clearinghouse through which new, used, overstocked, or defective books are donated by publishers, bookstores, and individuals from all over the country. The Project depends entirely on these donations for the reading material they pass on to inmates and other groups. The SeniorNet Prison Library Project (PLP) is a volunteer project to fulfill an important need for books to the libraries of selected prisons. Currently they are working with the South Carolina Department of Corrections and the 22,000 prisoners the South Carolina libraries serve in 19 prisons. As of 2007, over 5,000 books have been donated!

Needed Books:

Most prison libraries are in need of: best sellers, thrillers, suspense, science fiction, books of interest to the African American community, books made into movies, books in Spanish, books about learning Spanish or teaching yourself to paint, etc. Note: The following kinds of books are not accepted by most prison libraries:

• Hardcover books
• Books with covers that show full frontal nudity
• Books on the martial arts
• Books about true crime
• Books depicting violent murder or any detailed descriptions of violence (the Patricia Cornwell book about Jack the Ripper was brought up as an example, although non fiction it certainly fits the bill: extremely detailed descriptions of why he was called the ripper (he ripped out body organs) etc. Not acceptable.
• Although the reading level of many prisoners is low, books for children are not desirable.

How to get started

There is a list of prisons actively recruiting donations located at Books Behind Bars. Many of the other prison library projects can point you in the right direction for your community. Personally, I bag up my used paperbacks and drive down to the local pre-trial facility and drop them off at the front desk. The librarians have told me how desperate the inmates are for books and magazines and how they've seen changes in the prisoners who use them. In the long run, I love my books and want them to go somewhere they will actually be appreciated and read. It makes me feel good to know that my books can expand the minds (and hopefully hearts) of people who've never been exposed to history, science-fiction or mind blowing literature.