Over the course of the past year, PEN America’s Right to Read in American Prisons Project focused on ways prisons and jails across the country restricted access to literature and educational materials through book censorship and state book ban lists. Learn how to support access to prison literature and protect the right to read for incarcerated people.
- Form relationships with people inside through letter writing. Check out pen pal programs such as Black and Pink, Georgia Freedom Letters, Survived and Punished.
- Join a Prison Books Program near you.
- Donate books to incarcerated people and prison libraries.
Contacts for Prison Book Donations:
- Abolition Apostles, David Brazil and Sarah Pritchard, [email protected]
- Critical Resistance PDX, Rory Elliott, [email protected]
- Critical Resistance, Molly Porzig, [email protected]
- Northwestern Prison Education Program, Terah Tollner, [email protected]
- Community Education Project, Andy Eisen, [email protected]
- Indiana Women’s Prison History Project, Elizabeth Nelson, [email protected]
- University of Utah Prison Education Project, [email protected]
- Yale Prison Education Initiative, Zelda Roland, [email protected]
- Tennessee Higher Education in Prison Initiative, Molly Lasagna, [email protected]
- Books to Prisoners, Michelle, [email protected]
- Alliance for Higher Education in Prison, Mary Gould, [email protected]
- NYC Books Through Bars, [email protected]
Contact Info for Prison Books Programs:
XBooks
Tyrel Dale [email protected]>
1143 Gracewood Ave SE Unit A
Atlanta, GA 30316
Midwest Books to Prisoners
1321N Milwaukee
PMB 460
Chicago IL 60622
Email: [email protected]
MWPP
c/o Taylor Dean
716 W Dodds St.
Bloomington, IN 47403
Prison Book Program
1306 Hancock St., Suite 100
Quincy, MA 02169
Attention: Elizabeth
Sylvia Rivera Law Project
147 W 24th Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop
1816 12th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
Books Through Bars
4722 Baltimore Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Women’s Prison Book Project
3751 17th Ave S
Minneapolis MN 55407
Chicago Books to Women in Prison
4511 N. Hermitage Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
Email: [email protected]
Books Behind Bars: New Jersey
c/o Cassandra Gatelein
PO BOX 2611
Wildwood, NJ 08260
Books to Prisons – Alabama
Paula Marques
P.O. Box 20232
Tuscaloosa, AL 35402
Believers Bail Out
Ayesha Patel
4920 N Drake Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
Missouri Prison Books
438 N Skinker Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63130
Asheville Prison Books
c/o Downtown Books & News
67 North Lexington Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
Florida Prisoner Solidarity (formerly Gainesville IWOC)
2322 NE 11th Ter
Gainesville, FL 32609
Davis Books to Prisons
Giselle García
8155 Ganda Dancer Way,
Sacramento, CA 95823
North Carolina women’s prison book collective
Meghan McDowell
2633 Kirk Rd
Durham, NC 27705
Pittsburgh Prison Book Project (Formerly Book ‘Em)
134 E. Elizabeth St
Pittsburgh PA 15207
CT Prison Book Connection
P.O. Box 946
Rocky Hill, CT 06067-0946
Prison Books Collective
PO Box 625
Carrboro, NC 27510
Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP)
Vickie Anne Reddy
3658 N. Sawyer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
Email: [email protected]
Books 2 Prisoners in Urbana-Champaign
Becca Maree
502 S. Mattis Ave. Apt. O
Champaign, IL 61821
LGBT Books to Prisoners
c/o Social Justice Center Incubator
1202 Williamson St #1
Madison, WI 53703
Survived and Punished CA
6520 Telegraph Ave, Unit 2
Oakland, CA 94609
Highlander Center
1959 Highlander Way
New Market, TN 37820
WI Books to Prisoners
John E. Peck
2117 E. Johnson
Madison WI 53704
inside books project
Skot Oh
1801 Cedar Ave
Austin, TX 78702
Pages and Time
c/o Anette Bolan
12957 Rubens Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90066
Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners
3157 Gentilly Blvd. #141
New Orleans, LA 70122
SawariMedia Book Club
28211 Southfield Rd. #504
Lathrup Village, MI 48076
Prison Reform Movement
Carole Leonard
162 Creekbank Rd.
Elizabethton, Tennessee 37643
Great Falls Books Through Bars
Sara Ostrom
41 South St #13
Easthampton, MA 01027
Books to Prisoners Seattle
92 Pike St., Box A
Seattle, WA 98101
Education Justice Project
Jamie Hines/EJP
1001 S. Wright St
Champaign, IL 61810
Email: [email protected]
Prisoners Literature Project
Bruno/PLP
976 60th St.
Oakland CA 94608
Collective Justice
227 Wells Ave S
Renton, WA 98057
University Beyond Bars
929 N. 130th St
STE 15
Seattle, WA 98133
Appalachian Prison Book Project
PO Box 601
Morgantown, WV 26507
Richmond Community Bail Fund
Richmond, VA
Oakland Abolition and Solidarity
P.O. Box 12594
Oakland, CA 94604
[email protected]
Survived and Punished (both NYC and California)
