Jamie Ford

The “community read movement” started in 1998 in Seattle and has gained popularity across the United States. I’ve been intrigued by them for many years. And while I hear about them all the time, I’ve never heard of one taking place inside a prison. So, last summer, I decided to organize one for Coyote Ridge. And it wasn’t easy, but I did it.

The book I decided to use was Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It has been translated into over 30 different languages. The setting is Seattle, and the book was recently selected for a community read in Pierce County, Washington, which is where I managed to get 45 used copies of the book.

Now, for those who don’t know, a community read is different from a regular book group in three ways, 1) it is open to an entire community, 2) it includes supplementary social events related to themes in the book of choice, and 3) it usually includes a guest appearance by the author. At first, I was unsure about how I would achieve that third piece. Without any programming funds available, I wasn’t sure how to entice this successful author, who lives in Montana, to come all the way to Connell, which is miles from any major airport and not exactly a late-night excitement kind of town. Upon contacting his agent, however, I found that they were eager to work with me if we could figure out a way to cover Mr. Ford’s travel expenses. In the end, I was only able to bring Jamie Ford in as a guest speaker by teaming up with a Humanities group at Washington State University’s Tri-City campus, and by a donation from the Friends of the Washington State Library. Finally, after months of planning and negotiating, Mr. Ford spent the evening of Wednesday, March 22, talking to inmates, reading from his book, and answering an endless stream of questions.

In addition to the guest author event, the library at Coyote Ridge hosted a jazz music appreciation event and a historical slide show about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, featuring images from Densho and Library of Congress digital archives.

Jeannie Remillard

When I started working in a library in a maximum-security prison about 11 years ago, I quickly picked up on the fact that having a sense of humor goes a long way when dealing with convicted felons.

It was a typical day.  The library was busy with activity.  I stepped away from my desk for a few minutes to answer the telephone.  Upon returning to my desk, I noticed that a couple of my pens were missing.  I blurted out so everyone could hear “Who stole the pens off my desk?” 

 Immediately the room grew very quiet.  A young man came up and stood by my desk.  He said, “Jeannie, I’m not a thief, I’m a murderer.”  I replied, “Thank you for sharing that information with me!”  The whole room exploded with laughter and the two pens were soon returned.

WCC Library

When I first came to the Washington Corrections Center Library in 2010 I went through a little bit of a culture shock.  I had worked in other facilities, but nothing like WCC.  This library serves a small population of inmates who are housed here on a long term basis, but the institution has the unique aspect of being the receiving center for all male inmates in the state of Washington. 

In 2011 I asked if the library could provide service to the Recieving Units, otherwise known as the R-Units.  I got approval, which lead to several months of a rotating door.  The inmates moved in and out of the institution so fast that I was not able to keep up with  them. Because this led to the loss of too many library materials, this trial service was suspended.  However, we were lucky that we still had all of the books and other material from the McNeil Island Corrections Center library that has closed in 2010.  This material found a home in the R-Units here at WCC giving the many readers that transititioned through the facility an escape from prison life. 

During this trial period, we also started serving a unique unit here at WCC, the Re-Entry Unit.  This unit is full of offenders who have 6 months or less till they return to society.  I have been grateful that I have been able to provide them with much needed re-entry material that will help them transition into society.  They continue to come to the library today and will be joining the long term inmates in our WCC Reading Program as we read some of the classics.

Even as 2011 came to a close I realized that the ups and downs have made us all stronger and we continue to provide a much needed service to the inmates in all of our institutions.  I personally look forward to moving forward in 2012.

Western State Hospital Library

The last few years have been difficult for all due to the state of the economy.  In spite of shrinking budgets and the uncertainty of the future, the staff in Institutional Library Services have lived up to their mission by continuing to serve their customers “with spirit and fortitude”. Over the next few weeks ILS will be sharing what they have been thankful for in the year 2011 and how they look forward to 2012.  Please check out the upcoming posts from the library staff in the prisons and psychiatric hospital libraries across the state.

Joyce Hanna

It is always nice to hear that you are doing a good job.  Joyce Hanna recently received this Kite telling her how much she is appreciated at Airway Heights Corrections Center.

On November 18, 2011 at 9:50 am the Airway Heights Corrections Center Inmate Book Club met for the first time. It was a wonderful experience for the inmates and for me as well. Our first book was Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck. There were 13 inmates who read the book and participated in the discussion. On December 2, 2011 at 8:00 am we met again to view the movie. Only 7 inmates were able to make the viewing. Afterwards we discussed the differences between the movie and the book. We were lucky enough to have someone who had actually lived near Cannery Row in Monterey California so it livened up the discussion. Of course the movie was not filmed there, and all of us noticed the change in and addition of some characters between the book and the movie. The book discussion and the movie discussion were both very interesting and I was happy with the range in personalities we had who attended both sessions.

Our next book will be The Sky Fisherman, by Craig Lesley. We have not set the date yet for the discussion but it will be sometime in January. The books are being passed out now and it will be interesting to see if we get more or less participation this time.

Prison librarians have long fostered a spirit of collaboration in their field of librarianship. Information is shared and questions are asked by any with an interest in prison libraries. To further this along, Libraries Serving Special Populations Section (LSSPS) of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) formed a prison discussion list that has become a welcome forum for information gathering. Over the years, a directory of prison libraries was built and maintained by the library staff of the Maryland prison libraries. With changes in the air and money lost they are no longer able to maintain this directory. 

So in the full spirit of collaboration the Washington State Library Institutional staff has taken on the task. Glennor Shirley, Library Coordinator Correctional Education Libraries of Maryland, said “It is great to see that we can work together as a community and where one system like mine can no longer do the directory, then another takes over.”

The National Prison Library Directory can be found at http://wiki.sos.wa.gov/ils/

With support from the American Library Association (ALA), Library Snapshot day is a national phenomenon that has quickly spread across the US.

Library Snapshot Day provides a way for libraries of all types across a state, region, system or community to show what happens in a single day in their libraries. How many books are checked out? How many people receive help finding a job? Doing their homework? This initiative provides an easy means to collect statistics, photos and stories that will enable library advocates to prove the value of their libraries to decision-makers and increase public awareness.

We will be having our very own Library Snapshot Day on 1/11/11 in the prison and psychiatric hospital libraries of Washington State.  On this day we will be taking statistics, collecting photos and stories, and we will be publishing the results online.

In the prison branches of the State Library we have a form titled “Please Tell Us…” that allows the inmates to tell us what the library and its services mean to them. How does the library, its collections and staff, make a difference in their lives?

To date, the best response that I have ever received was the following statement:

“I would die in here without books, thanks.”