Blogs and news articles

Maryland Humanities Council's blogs about our participation in the One Maryland One Book on their web site. We had Warren St. John visiting Jessup Correctional Instit. It was a lively discussion.

Prison libraries have been in the news lately.  I did an interview with Bob Edwards on the Bob Edwards  Show, Serius XM radio earlier this month.  The show aired on October 17.    Avi Steinberg , was featured on an NPR program.  He got rave reviews for his memoir, Running The Books: Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian.

We have our challenges as some states aggressively try to censor what inmates read.  US & World News.
The battle continues.  Fortunately we have organizations like the American Library Association and ACLU to help fight for prisoners rights to read.

Author visits JCI

Warren St. John, author of Outcast United,  Maryland's  One Maryland One Book  selection for 2010, had a great discussion with the inmates when he visited Jessup Correctional Institution on Sept. 27.  The inmates asked questions about his choice of title, and his motivation for writing the book,  They discussed the  pararel in their prison environment and that of the refugees and thanked Warren for the visit.  Warren was accompanied by  MHC's staff members, Andrea Lewis  and Phoebe Stein Davis, who introduced  him. Special guest was Margaret Carty, Executive Director, Maryland Library Association. Grace Schroeder, Librarian, worked with the DOC to make the visit a smooth one.  SeriusXM radio taped the conversations.
Me?  I am always proud to show the benefits  of inmates who read.

At table, Andrea Lewis, Margaret Carty, Warren St John, Phoebe Stein Davis, Glennor Shirley

One Maryland One Book

I am really happy that our prisons will be participating in Maryland Humanities Council  One Maryland One Book. This year's selection is Outcast United, by Warren St John.   The author will be visiting JCI prison on September 27.   MHC donated  about 200 books  to enable us to participate, and we will soon receive the readers guides.  If you have a similar program in your state, it is one way to get some books and also community support.

Prison Library Programs

Dr. Sims-Wood and JCI Librarian, Grace Schroeder

Many inmates say that the first time they visited a library was in a prison. Librarians try to model public library settings, so inmates will feel less intimidated to visit a library outside the fence. Inmates welcome programs like book discussions and guest speakers on a variety of topics. Most of our libraries participated in the One Maryland One Book promoted by the Maryland Humanities Council (MHC). During Women's history month the MHC provided us with a guest speaker, Dr. Janet Sims-Wood whose topic was: Fighting for Freedom: Black Women's Army Corps during World War ! Dr Simms-Wood stated: "The gentlemen were attentive and asked lots of question".