Inside Books Project Promotes Literacy in Texas Prison

@InsideBooksATX

Inside Books Project Promotes Literacy in Texas Prisons

Correctional News: 2.14.2018 by Rachel Leber

 “There’s so much more to a book than the reading,” Maurice Sendak, the author and illustrator behind “Where the Wild Things Are,” once said. The Inside Books Project (IBP) in Austin understands this better than most — and this is exactly why the organization sends books to prison inmates in Texas.

The key mission of IBP, a community service volunteer organization that sends free books and educational materials to inmates in Texas, is to promote reading, literacy and education among incarcerated individuals and to educate the general public on issues of incarceration.

It is the contention of IBP that every inmate has the right to quality reading and educational materials and that “reading, learning and self-expression are invaluable opportunities that are too often denied to Texas inmates,” according to the organization’s website.

Cuts to prison education programs and libraries are prevalent in the U.S., and IBP exists to attempt to reduce those impacts with a goal of rehabilitation over punishment. The nonprofit strongly believes in the benefits of literacy to the post-incarceration lives of inmates as well as a beneficial relationship between additional reading and increased literacy.

How the program works: IBP receives written requests from inmates for books and resource guides, and then volunteers send each inmate a custom and personalized package based on their letter. IBP currently sends an average of 35,000 free books to inmates annually, and receives an average of 1,200 written requests per month from inmates across Texas. During each volunteer session, dozens of volunteers personally read and respond to requests from inmates. READ MORE >>

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Prison

2013: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education, Rand

2011: Correctional Education, OVAE
2010: Prison Count, PEW
2009: One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, PEW
2006: Locked Up Locked Out: Educational Perspective on US Prison Population, ETS
2003: Literacy Behind Bars, NAAL 2003

2003: Education And Correctional Populations, BJS

1994: Literacy Behind Prison Walls, NCES