Since 1990, the United States has seen its prison population increase to the point where the United States now holds the highest incarceration rate in the world, most of whom are held for non-violent crimes.

Many efforts are underway to provide material and human rights support to prisoners -- including educational support. Projects underway in the Midwest include Midwest Books to Prisoners, which sends reading material to prisoners in eight midwest states; the Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners Project, a project affiliated with Urbana-Champaign Indymedia which works with Illinois prisoners; and Chicago Books to Women in Prison, which provides books for incarcerated women nationwide.

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