Prison libraries are often barebones and outdated, but one nonprofit is trying to change that. The Appalachian Prison Book Project sends free books to prisoners in in six states: Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennesse, Virginia, and West Virginia, Sarah Baird reports for Buzzfeed.
The all-volunteer project was founded by West Virginia University English professors Katy Ryan and Mark Brazaitis in 2004 (Brazaitis was recently elected deputy mayor of Morgantown, W.Va.). They conceived of the project after a class Ryan taught on prison literature. "While reading works from formerly incarcerated or currently incarcerated people, we learned how important books were to them," Ryan told Baird. "I mentioned to the students that I didn’t know if a prison book project existed in West Virginia. It turns out, there wasn’t one in the entire region. So, we carved out those six states, and committed ourselves to sending books to people who wanted them."
The inmates are hungry for the books: APBP gets about 100 letters a week from inmates requesting books, and has distributed about 25,000 books to date; about 90 percent of requests are fulfilled, and usually within a few days. Prisoners spread the word about the program by word of mouth or letters between prisoners in different locations. "Ryan says that even before the program was officially up and running, they received dozens of request letters from inmates all over the United States based solely on communication networks within facilities," Baird reports. "The incarcerated grapevine — and the need for books — is strong."
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