Bring Back Books Behind Bars

Virginia's concept of prison seems to be heavily skewed towards punishment over rehabilitation. That may be the way our state likes it, but even given that, this seems ridiculous.

The three inmates are among thousands who have received books from the Quest Institute, a Charlottesville-based nonprofit group that has filled such requests for two decades.

But the group's popular Books Behind Bars program might have become a victim of its success.

Virginia prison officials banned the program last month, saying that the security risks are too great and that it creates too much work for busy corrections officers.

The sudden halt has prompted protests from prisoner advocates who say Books Behind Bars -- which has put as many as a million books in cells statewide -- is a relatively low-cost way to help inmates who want to learn. - The Washington Post

Why was the program ended? Because a CD and a paper clip somehow found their way into prisons in two books. Of the over ten thousand books sent to inmates, two mistakes were enough to end the program.

Allison said volunteers, who search the books before they are shipped, overlooked two items this spring -- a compact disc packaged in a textbook and a paper clip. She said both were found by corrections workers, who examine each package that enters the prison, before they made it into an inmate's hands. Those two mistakes should not justify killing the program, she said. - The Washington Post

Here's the kicker, the books program has been instrumental to inmates getting their GED, a basic requirement for finding a job after serving their time.

One inmate who had gotten a Books Behind Bars shipment sent a letter to Allison to say he had become the first in his family to receive a general equivalency diploma.

"The free books you send me are a blessing," he wrote. "I read everyone of them from front to back." He asked her to send Shakespeare and Ernest Hemingway. - The Washington Post

I know Virginia is a "tough on crime" state. But some of our prison and punishment policies are 19th century in their severity. This is a double whammy on our commonwealth, as a higher prison population drains resources that might otherwise go to roads and schools. When combined with the fact that inmates who get out of prison are now being denied tools to rehabilitate themselves (books), thus increasing the likelihood of commiting more crimes (public safety risk) and therefore returning prison (increasing state costs), we seem to have guaranteed a vicious cycle for our citizens who find themselves in the criminal justice system.

Sen. Jim Webb has been a leading voice on the incarceration rate issue. Part of the answer has to be improving the opportunities and incentives for ex-convicts to go straight. It seems to me that Books Behind Bars is an incredibly simple and obvious piece of the solution. Let's bring it back.

(With a tip-o-the-hat to Lowell.)