Books behind bars: Prison Library Project offers hope for inmates It is often that I, and probably many of you, feel plagued with the conundrum: too many books, too little time. But we have no idea what plagued truly is. This holiday season, as you choose one of your many books to read, or visit Borders to spend that new $50 gift card, consider, really consider, the opposite: way too much time, not enough—or no—books. “I am currently incarcerated in a Texas Prison. If that is not bad enough, I have no books, nothing to read, and no access to a library. Unfortunately, I will be here for quite a while,” wrote an inmate to The Claremont Forum’s Prison Library Project. Based on a similar project founded in 1973 by spiritual teacher Ram Dass, this service endeavor—the “PLP”—is doing something about the dearth of books—and the tremendous need for them—in the hand and minds of prisoners across the country. The PLP provides free reading material to inmates not merely to help fill or pass the time—months or years or entire lifetimes—but to guide them toward meaningful personal growth and new ways of living, whether forever behind bars or given another chance to contribute to society. “The goal is to bring hope to inmates, to indicate that they’ve not been forgotten. They’re not abandoned, not alone," said Claremont Forum board member Marie-Elena. “And, of course, [to bring] the books themselves, which range from inspiration to escape, all of which is worthwhile.” Each week, the Prison Library Project receives more than 200 book request letters from inmates; each year, more than 30,000 books are mailed to individuals and libraries in 600 prisons, jails and detention centers. “It’s absolutely amazing. There’s an endless river of people who want things,” said board member and PLP volunteer, Nora Quinn. And never, reflected Marie-Elena, has a request gone unfulfilled. “I can’t think of a single situation when someone who wrote to us didn’t get something,” said the 40-year Claremont resident, noting that if a specific book requested isn’t on-hand, a book of similar content or by the same author will be substituted. Placing the nearly half-million books in inmates’ hands over the last 21 years has been a monumental task, one entirely accomplished by volunteers. More than 1,200 volunteers per year from local high schools and colleges, churches and synagogues, senior centers, halfway houses, rehab facilities and the community-at-large meet at the Thoreau Bookstore at the Claremont Forum to tackle PLP duties: reading and sorting letters, creating mailing labels, finding and pulling books from shelves and bins, packaging them and trekking to the post office. Despite the hard work of volunteers—including super-volunteer Doug Wallace, who rides his bike from Pilgrim Place 6 days a week to help the PLP—the massive influx of requests means a constant backlog of at least 3 months. Ms. Quinn’s son, in fact, refused to leave after their first PLP service session, “Because the letters we’re answering are 4-months-old. I can’t stand the idea of someone sitting in a prison cell for 4 months thinking ‘I don’t know if they’ll ever send me a book.’” But they will, to each and every person who asks. And what they send is as diverse as the style and content of letters they receive. “The letters are everything,” Ms. Quinn said. “They are funny, they are charming, they are heartbreaking. They are everything.” Continuing, Ms. Quinn spoke of the woman serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole who requested books on spirituality to help her make it through; the prisoner who asked for books on scholarships to help her daughter apply to college; an incarcerated father inquiring what books PLP could send on understanding homosexuality—he recently learned his son was gay; the inmate seeking information for her novel-in-progress about Kentucky in the 1800s (“And I had a guide book to Kentucky,” said Ms. Quinn. “Astonishing things like that happen.”); the college students busted for drugs who wanted calculus and philosophy text books; the fellow who confessed he was just bored and wanted anything with pictures of women in bathing suits; and for those in “lockdown” for up to 23.5 hours a day, Ms. Quinn sends them “the thickest books I can find.” (story continues below)
Loyal to the mission of helping inmates embrace new ideas, Ms. Quinn admitted sometimes fulfilling requests with a slight spin. “If women want romance novels, I’ll send them one or two romance books and one book on feminist theory,” she said. “If someone’s sitting in a cell, you never know what they’ll be willing to read.” The subject range is tremendous, but books focusing on spirituality and self-help comprise the majority, with only one book requested more frequently: the dictionary. Many inmates, explained Marie-Elena, are teaching themselves to read and write. “I read on a first grade level. I have know one not help me to learn to read…I need to learn to read. So I will not come back to [jail],” wrote a Texas inmate. “In a good Dictionary to help will me read. Is you can send me some education. Books would help with my rehabilitation.” Frequently, prisoners speak candidly about their facility’s lack of rehabilitation programs, calling upon PLP to help them forge their own way to growth, productivity and success on the outside. “Texas prisons do not rehabilitate an individual so one must take it upon one’s self and search one’s self and reflect on the things which brought us to the place we are today,” wrote an inmate who will be up for parole in 2010. “Sometimes, most of the time, an individual finds it’s easier to just remain the same. I have found this is not the case. I want to change my way of thinking, my way of being.” At times and upon request, PLP services extend beyond incarceration. “I have been in and out of this kind of situation for a long time! Because I never know where or who to turn to for help once I am released and they don’t tell you any information in this state,” wrote a Connecticut inmate. “But I have had enough of this kind of life and want to better myself!! To get out and stay out this time!!!” To this man, and to many others, PLP volunteers send a “Ways and Means” resource list, a compilation of more than 400 different service and legal organizations to aid those returning to society after incarceration. And the belief that one can indeed emerge emotionally and intellectually strengthened and prepared to succeed in the world runs strong among PLP associates. “Prisoners aren’t prisoners because they’ve just done nice things, but that doesn’t mean they can’t change their life,” said Jan Wheatcroft, current president of the Claremont Forum. “Just being jammed into a miserable situation isn’t the way to do it. Many things can change that. One way is by books, by somebody who cares enough to send them.” Ms. Quinn, relaying a rather startling statistic, reported that, according to the Department of Justice, more than 600,000 people will be released over the next year in this country. “And you have to ask yourself,” she continued, “what do you want them to be doing in prison? I’d rather they be reading.” With ever-increasing postage costs and the ongoing multitude of book requests, the Prison Library Project of the Claremont Forum gladly welcomes donations of time, money and books. In addition to inmates, the PLP also provides reading material to prison chaplains, librarians and study groups as well as local recovery and support groups. All proceeds from the Thoreau Bookstore, which is open to the public everyday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., support Claremont Forum programs and services, including the PLP. The Forum also sponsors the Claremont Farmers and Artists Market on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Claremont Village and offers lectures, workshops, art exhibits and performances that promote individual and social well-being. The Claremont Forum is located at 586 W. First St., in the Packing House. Information: 626-3066; claremontforum@hotmail.com. — Brenda Bolinger
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December 22, 2007
December 22, 2007