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Prison Literature Can Help Some Inmates

By Michael Obrien


There has been much said about prison literature over the years. There are also many people who are both proponents and opponents to it. It can sometimes be surprising to others that no matter what a person has done or who they are that another person would be objected to them reading or trying to better themselves.

People who commit crimes deserve to be punished. People who commit truly vicious crimes deserve to be put in jail and kept away from the rest of society, sure. The problem is that sadly our justice system is not the most perfect system in the world and occasionally people who do not deserve it get sent to prison. When this happens it can sometimes take an army to get them released.

In this country you might be "innocent until proven guilty" but if you are "proven guilty you are surely not innocent". Or at least that is the prevailing thought amongst most of society these days. The fact of the matter is that over the last year in Illinois alone there have been two people released from incarceration because they were later found to be innocent.

For some that is just fine. Some of the inmates have been locked up for so long they just want to read anything. Then again there are those who need specific types of books so that they can learn to read. It is sad to think that there is so much of a literacy issue in our jails, but there is. Another problem is that people who might otherwise have the chance to donate just do not want to.

While it is too hard to reflect on all that transpired the though of some is that at least the fact that they had access to a prison law library had mad things easier for their defense. It allowed them to help their lawyers and to keep up with what was happening on the outside with their appeal. Things like this are important for inmates, especially these.

So the books that the library is filled with come from donations for the most part and they claim that they cannot turn down the donations because that would be foolish. If law books are donated they should be kept in the library and the inmates should be allowed to check them out and read them.

When murderer on death row is allowed to read legal books that detail court cases, there is a certain feeling amongst some people that they can use that information to delay their punishment. The truth is that nothing can delay such a punishment when they are just waiting to die and no amount of reading can help.

Another problem with prison literature is that when they get donations there is no way to ask for specific materials. They are just happy to get what they get. Most times they are in need of text books for the school programs or books to help inmates learn to read. It is also hard because more people feel they do not deserve this then there are who want to help.




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