Prison libraries change lives

Information Outlook, Nov, 1997 by Marjorie Lemon

The new facility increased floor space by 847 square feet, shelving by 25 bookcases and sealing capacity by ten. The main room seats thirty inmates and features a large, modern circulation desk, a separate book processing room, the librarian's office, a Career Center, and an audiovisual room. The separate rooms are necessary because doors can be closed when people need to talk, listen to music, or have a private meeting. The law library consists of two separate rooms; one for seating ten people and the other for the legal clerks and compact shelving.

The main library's design goes against current thought for prison libraries, as the seven foot high stacks have aisles, with many hidden areas. The recommended design is for tall stacks flat against the walls, with only low stacks projecting into the room for increased visibility. However, this was the only way to significantly increase book storage because the building has too many windows in the storage area and the administration did not want all of the windows covered by bookcases. But with ours being a minimum security prison, we have never had a severe theft problem like some of the larger prisons. A Corrections Officer is posted just outside the library door, and he/she may be used at some point to search patrons as they leave. A security system has been considered, but at this time the cost is prohibitive. The new library is well-lit, with an overall effect of light and spaciousness.

Funding Sources

The library will generally have three funding sources: state money, inmate generated money, and gift/grant money. If the Superintendent is a strong supporter of treatment and education for inmates, the library will be a line item in the Institution budget. However, most of this money will buy legal materials, which have been mandated by the courts. Another possible source of state money, because the library is located in the Education Department, is education money. In recent years, education funding has been much tighter than corrections funding, and any money received here will be minimal.

In Pennsylvania, inmate generated money goes into the Inmate General Welfare Fund and the Inmate Activities Committee. The Inmate General Welfare Fund consists of monies generated by inmate purchases in the commissary and by long distance telephone calls. The only stipulation for this funding is that it must be spent on inmate recreation activities; I use it to purchase fiction, video and audio tapes. This funding has grown and is now more than half the library budget. The Inmate Activities Committee raises money by selling ice cream and photographs, and donates money to our library for the purchase of several items.

Rarely, a concerned citizen will send a cash donation but most often we receive gifts of used books. L.S.C.A. grant money has been received from the Pennsylvania State Library to make significant improvements statewide. Workplace was funded for all 21 prisons this way. In 1992, they committed to the largest corrections' libraries project ever: developing a union catalog on CD-ROM and automating circulation for all the prisons.