Cell Service: Inside the World of Prison Librarians
Mental Floss:
1.11.2018 by Jake Rossen
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Being
allowed the pleasure of reading has been a privilege for prisoners for nearly
as long as the idea of criminal detention itself. In the 1700s, religious tomes
were handed out with hopes that wayward convicts would find
spiritual guidance and correct their behaviors. In the 19th and 20th centuries,
an increase in public libraries bled into penal institutions, and scholars
advocated for “bibliotherapy,” or rehabilitation through literacy. Inmates
devoured texts on psychology and law, increasing their self-awareness and
sometimes antagonizing officials by challenging their sentences or their treatment
within a facility.
Today,
roughly 1.5 million Americans are incarcerated in federal or
state facilities that offer varying degrees of access to literature, from a few
shelves full of worn titles to sprawling legal and recreational selections.
When Hart decided to put his bachelor’s degree in criminology and master’s in
library science to use at the Ohio facility, he was dismayed to find that the
unit had only 600 books in its inventory.
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In
the two years Hart spent at the facility, the library’s inventory grew from 600
books to more than 15,000. When prisoners weren’t after books on deboning
animals, they sought out titles on crocheting, affordable living in tiny homes,
and what Hart calls “street lit,” a genre of memoirs from reformed criminals.
The Japanese graphic novel Naruto was popular; so was the
Christian-driven Left Behind series, about the people who remain
following the Rapture.
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According
to the National Institute of Justice, two-thirds of released inmates are rearrested within
three years, so mired in the cycle of criminal offenses that they see no other
alternative. “They say reentry begins at sentencing, but the culture is still a
ways off from that,” Nash says.
Even
so, inmates often come in seeking information on how to build opportunities
during and after their imprisonment. Some opt to try and learn a trade or how
to start a small business. Others take advantage of the reference material in
reentry programs to try and cultivate an exit strategy, whether it’s earning a
GED or pursuing a degree. READ MORE
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