Who We Are
Book 'Em is a 100% volunteer, non-profit organization that sends free educational books and quality reading material to prisoners and prison libraries across the country. Book 'Em was founded in the year 2000.
What We Do
Each month Book 'Em sends hundreds of packages of books to indigent prisoners, free of charge. We have had many educators struggling to do their work within the walls request educational materials from our program, and we provide them assistance as best we can.
The vast majority of our packages are sent directly to self-educating prisoners who write to us with their requests. Once they tell our volunteers what subject areas they are interested in, we send them books that are related to that subject.
Volunteers with packages at the post office
Book 'Em also publishes and distributes many different pamphlets for the benefit and education of prisoners, including resource guides for prisoners and prison advocates.
Since 2000, we have sent over 6000 packages of books, helping over 4000 individual prisoners. Click here to read some of the responses we've received from prisoners.
At this time, the state of Oregon does not allow Book 'Em's packages to enter any of their prisons. We are only able to serve females, not males, who are imprisoned in Texas due to financial limitations. In all other states, prisons either allow or disallow our packages on an institution-by-institution basis.
Why?
Rehabilitation was at one time a stated goal of the prison system. Today, funding for most educational and rehabilitation programs, including prison libraries, has been cut or completely eliminated. It is a distressing fact that today's U.S. prisons are increasingly about punishing people and warehousing human beings, not about corrections, rehabilitation, or education. It seems that little to no thought is given to the fact that, for example, 95% of New York State prisoners will at some point be released into society. Clearly, they are in need of educational and training services while incarcerated.
Book 'Em aims to confront the negativities of our prison system by giving prisoners the opportunity for self-education while behind bars, which can lead to rehabilitation. Our group's actions also seek to reduce prisoners' feelings of isolation, which we believe helps to counteract the dehumanizing effects of the prison system. We further believe that the work Book 'Em does gives people in prison hope for their future and helps to remind them that every single person on our earth, even one who is behind bars, is deserving of human compassion.
Books-to-prisoners programs are extremely important due to prison restrictions which prevent most prisoners from receiving books sent by friends or relatives. Book 'Em is able to bypass these restrictions by working with The Big Idea: a local independent bookstore that does have permission to send books to prisoners.
What about the use of Pell Grants? At one time, qualified prisoners were able to get Pell Grants so that they could take a few college courses while behind bars. However, Pell Grants were eliminated for prisoners in 1994, ending college programs in prison. This was part of the government's effort to get even tougher on crime.
What about prisoners working to earn their GED? Today, if GED preparation programs are offered in prisons at all, the prisoners often have to purchase their own textbooks. Many cannot buy the books because they are indigent, therefore they cannot participate in the GED prep program being offered.
Do educational programs actually help prisoners and society? A study of released inmates in Maryland, Minnesota, and Ohio showed that participants in education programs were significantly less likely to be re-arrested (57% of non-participants vs. 48% for participants), re-convicted (35% vs. 27%), and re-incarcerated (31% vs. 21%).
Click here to find out how you can help Book 'Em!
Feel free to visit our weekly book packing sessions on Sundays from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the basement of the Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, in Pittsburgh's Garfield neighborhood. There is always great company and conversation, and often music and snacks.