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A nonprofit group is once again sending free books to prisoners across the state.
Since 2006, Wisconsin Books to Prisoners has mailed roughly 70,000 books to Wisconsin inmates, who wrote to the group requesting specific titles or topics.
But, in 2024, Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections told Books to Prisoners it could no longer send used books.
That prompted the volunteer-led group to curtail its operations — leading to devastating consequences for the people locked up in state prisons, said Wisconsin Books to Prisoners co-founder Camy Matthay.
“Our project was extremely critical to prisoners who wanted to read books that were more current and relevant to their ambitions,” Matthay said.
Over the last two years, Books to Prisoners has been working with the Department of Corrections to find a solution. That included pilot programs, which tested out book shipments to specific prisons.
As of this month, Books to Prisoners is back to sending new and gently used books to all of Wisconsin’s state prisons.
Now that it’s fully back in business, Books to Prisoners has agreed to additional controls. A librarian or other prison official will cross-reference and document every book request. And prisoners will no longer be able to request specific titles. Instead, they can ask for a certain genre or subject matter.
“The concern is that someone on the outside who’s trying to get drugs into prisons will taint a book, … donate the book to us and then get a friend inside to request that specific title,” Matthay explained.
Across the country, there have been incidents where paper has been used to smuggle K2, a syntehtic cannabinoid, into prisons. The paper is soaked in the drug and then smoked or eaten, according to law enforcement officials.
Matthay says she sympathizes with the DOC’s concerns about drug smuggling.
“No one wants anyone to die on their watch,” she said.
At the same time, Matthay believes restricting books is counterproductive. People incarcerated in Wisconsin generally have access to prison libraries and to some electronic books. But Matthay says those avenues come with limited choices.
Thanks to its donors, Books to Prisoners is able to tailor its shipments to inmates’ specific needs. The most popular requests include books about job skills and learning Spanish.
“We get incredible letters from prisoners all along about how much they appreciate the project, not only for helping them prepare to reenter (society), but also just because they enjoy reading and learning more about the world,” Matthay said.
This story was originally published by WPR.
Nonprofit celebrates return of program that sends free books to Wisconsin prisoners is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
