“No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.”
–Nelson Mandela
The topic of today’s EDI article is a more sobering one: What are libraries’ places in helping currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as their families? This is primarily a public library concern; however, other library types (especially school and academic) can adopt programming and access to resources as their patrons experience loved ones being imprisoned or reentering society after imprisonment themselves.
Support in Prison and Jail Libraries
ALA’s Prisoners’ Right to Read outlines how the Library Bill of Rights pertains to incarcerated individuals, as well as their correctional facilities’ libraries. This document contains the following statement:
Participation in a democratic society requires unfettered access to current social, political, legal, economic, cultural, scientific, and religious information. Information and ideas available outside the prison are essential to people who are incarcerated for a successful transition to freedom. Learning to thrive in a free society requires access to a wide range of knowledge. Suppression of ideas does not prepare people of any age who are incarcerated for life in a free society. Even those individuals who are incarcerated for life require access to information, to literature, and to a window on the world (2019, para. 3).
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions further explains the role and responsibilities of prison libraries in its Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners, 3rd Edition (2005).
To keep things simple, regardless of patrons’ legal freedom statuses, libraries exist for access to information and services that aid in lifelong learning and critical-thinking skills.
How Can Libraries Advocate for Current and Former Inmates?
Libraries, especially public libraries, can act as advocates in various ways, including:
- Establishing connections with prison libraries, correctional librarians, educational programs, and other local groups already providing information to people who are incarcerated.
- Hosting book drives for local jails and prisons.
- Hosting video visitations at libraries for families separated by incarceration.
- Forming connections with professionals in the criminal justice system, such as sheriff’s offices, public defenders, and prosecutors, in order to better incorporate library services in local prisons and jails.
- Creating lists of resources that offer free and low-cost services to individuals navigating reentry (legal aid clinics, homeless shelters, health care, child and family counseling, for example). Post these lists (at a minimum) in an easy-to-find area on the website and at the reference desk.
- Advertising library resources available to aid newly released job seekers, such as access to computers, classes, and books (Ringrose, 2020).
- Addressing the importance of mental health after release by offering various library resources for stress relief, personal learning, and self-awareness. Some libraries, particularly those with large former inmate populations, work directly with social workers in-house.
- Creating and executing programs for positive family bonding. These can be literary-based, such as family storytimes, or even get-togethers for families to spend quality time, such as a carnival on the library lawn (Simon, 2020).
Advocating for Families of the Incarcerated
When a loved one goes to prison or jail, the whole family feels the effects. Possible aftershocks include loneliness, financial distress from the loss of the incarcerated individual’s income, stigmas and gossip surrounding arrests, concern for the arrested “on the inside”, a launch into single parenthood, or children being displaced from the family home. While libraries cannot make the worries go away, they can help alleviate them.
Youth.org offers various resources for addressing children of incarcerated parents. Such materials include dealing with trauma from a loved one’s arrest, exposure to violence, drugs, or alcohol use, and information about child welfare services. Children of Incarcerated Parents Bill of Rights (Bernstein, 2003) outlines that children have the right to:
- be kept safe and informed at the time of their parent’s arrest,
- be heard when decisions are made about them,
- be considered when decisions are made about their parent,
- be well cared for in their parent’s absence,
- speak with, see and touch their parent,
- support as they struggle with their parent’s incarceration,
- not be judged, blamed, or labeled because of their parent’s incarceration, and
- a lifelong relationship with their parent.
Libraries can also help the family, as a whole, through programming, recommending circulated materials, and hosting support groups. Sullivan (2013) advises amending programs to better fit the families of the imprisoned, as your community needs. However, even on a smaller scale, regular day-to-day programming can help decrease the shame by bringing to light the subject of incarceration.
Resources at NDSL
If you are further interested in the experiences of incarcerated individuals, NDSL offers various books about prison and jail time including, but not limited to, the following:
- Prisoner Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration by Daniel Mears and Joshua C. Cochran
“Prisoner Reentry is an examination of prisoner reentry and how to improve public safety, well-being, and justice in the “era of mass incarceration.” Authors Daniel P. Mears and Joshua C. Cochran investigate historical trends in incarceration and punishment policy, the salience of in-prison and post-prison contexts and experiences for reentry, and the importance of understanding group differences in offending, punishment, and social context. Using reliance on both theory and empirical research, the authors identify how reentry reflects criminal justice policy in America and, at the same time, has profound implications for crime prevention and justice. Readers will develop a diverse foundation for current policies, identify the implications of reentry for families, community, and society at large, and gain a conceptual and empirical toolkit for analyzing and improving the lives of those released from prison.”
- Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted edited by Laura Caldwell and Leslie S. Klinger
“How do wrongful convictions happen, and what are the consequences for the lucky few who are acquitted, years after they are proven innocent? Fourteen exonerated inmates narrate their stories, while another exoneree’s case is explored. They detail every aspect of the experience of wrongful conviction, as well as the remarkable depths of endurance sustained by each exoneree who never lost hope.”
- Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration by Reuben Jonathan Miller
“Miller, a Chicago Cook County Jail chaplain and mass-incarceration sociologist, examines the lifelong realities of a criminal record. He demonstrates how America’s justice system is less about rehabilitation and more about structured disenfranchisement. In doing so, he captures the stories of the men, women, and communities fighting against a system that is designed for them to fail.”
- The Juvenile Justice System by Duchess Harris and Carla Mooney
“The Juvenile Justice System examines all aspects of juvenile justice in the United States. It discusses the history behind the US juvenile justice system and how juveniles are affected by the system.”
- The New York Times Book of Crime: More than 166 Years of Covering the Beat edited by Kevin Flynn
“This book, edited by Times crime-beat veteran Kevin Flynn, captures the full sweep of the newspaper’s reporting on the subject. It examines issues like incarceration, organized crime, and vice (from the Attica Correctional Facility riot to the powerful Medellín Cartel) as well as the infamous crimes that riveted the world. With 70 photographs as well as reproductions of front-page stories, here are the noteworthy crime articles from The New York Times archives that are sure to engross readers.”
- Better, Not Bitter by Yusef Salaam (Eaudiobook)
“This inspirational memoir serves as a call to action from prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, that will inspire us all to turn our stories into tools for change in the pursuit of racial justice. Yusef writes his narrative: growing up Black in central Harlem in the ’80s, being raised by a strong, fierce mother and grandmother, his years of incarceration, his reentry, and exoneration. Yusef connects these stories to lessons and principles he learned that gave him the power to survive through the worst of life’s experiences.”
- Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society After Prison by Jeffrey Ian Ross
“Can the common criminal get a fresh start? A resource for former convicts and their families post-incarceration. The United States has the largest criminal justice system in the world, with currently over 7 million adults and juveniles in jail, prison, or community custody. Because they spend enough time in prison to disrupt their connections to their families and their communities, they are not prepared for the difficult and often life-threatening process of reentry. As a result, the percentage of these people who return to a life of crime and additional prison time escalates each year. Beyond Bars is a guide for ex-convicts and their families about managing a successful reentry into the community and includes: tips on how to prepare for release while still in prison; ways to deal with family members, especially spouses and children; finding a job; money issues such as budgets, bank accounts, taxes, and debt; avoiding drugs and other illicit activities; free resources to rely on for support.”
References
American Library Association (2019, January 29). Prisoners’ right to read: An interpretation of the library bill of rights. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/prisonersrightoread.
Bernstein, N. (2003). Children of incarcerated parents: A bill of rights. U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/children-incarcerated-parents-bill-rights.
Lehmann, V., & Locke, J. (2005). Guidelines for library services to prisoners (3rd ed.). International Federation of Library Association and Institutions. https://repository.ifla.org/bitstream/123456789/558/1/ifla-professional-reports-nr-92.pdf.
Ringrose, K. (2020, September). Libraries reentry: The importance of public spaces, technologies, and community to formerly incarcerated patrons. ALA Policy Perspectives, 7. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/tools/Libraries%26Reentry_WEB_090620%20%282%29.pdf?utm_source=ILL&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=reentry.
Simon, L. (2020, October 26). For formerly incarcerated people, libraries are a lifeline. Ilovelibraries. https://ilovelibraries.org/article/formerly-incarcerated-people-libraries-are-lifeline/#:~:text=Libraries%20are%20a%20haven%20where,social%20workers%20to%20provide%20assistance.
Sullivan, M. (2013, September 3). Welcoming children and families affected by incarceration into public libraries. Public Libraries Online. http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/09/welcoming-children-and-families-affected-by-incarceration-into-public-libraries/.