Books Behind Bars

I was driving back from Lexington today, a long but beautiful drive up I-81. To pass the time, I was listening to to the Virginia Insights show on NPR and there was a eye-opening and rather moving show featuring a wonderful lady named Kay Allison of the Quest Institute. Her organization sponsors a program called Books Behind Bars which provides free books for prison inmates.

On the show, they mentioned the great need for dictionaries. One thing many of us take for granted is that we have easy access to a dictionary or two. Not so in prison, where these are considered a valuable and prized possession. Here's why: many "on the inside" either have not had (or have not taken best advantage of) educational opportunities. When they arrive in prison and find they have plenty of time to reflect on their lives, some experience the desire to improve their minds and make a better life. So they turn to books. Those who never picked up a book before their time in prison naturally have a disadvantage: they are not familiar with many of the words they read, and so they need a dictionary. One caller, the librarian at the Auburn prison in Virginia, said that they have 15 dictionaries, and they are always checked out.

Among the many other books provided through the Books Behind Bars program, the Quest Institute has provided thousands of dictionaries. They are gratefully received. Check out the Quest Institute's web site and read some of the prisoners' letters. Here are some of the more popular books requested by inmates:

Dictionary and Thesaurus
Bible, Koran, spiritual material
Small business start-up
G.E.D. preparation
Electrical, welding, plumbing, carpentry and other trade skills.
Computer programming and web-design
African-American authors
Textbooks
Medical / Health / Nutrition / Fitness

Comments

Eileen said…

We should make a donation, especially at Christmastime might be nice.

October 13, 2012 at 3:05 PM

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