Since June 2004 an all volunteer group called Midwest Books to Prisoners has been sending reading materials to prison inmates across the U.S. Most books, though, are sent to prisons in the Midwest. Approximately 600 packages of books have been sent out since June.

The Chicago-based organization meets twice a month in the evening to fill inmates requests, this includes finding the right books on the shelf and putting them in a large envelope to send off. This usually lasts about 3 hours. Midwest Books to Prisoners receives money and reading material through donations.

Projects like this are one of the few ways to empower prisoners. The purpose of the organization is to help educate prisoners about something there interested in, let inmates know that they have support on the “outside” and to improve quality of reading materials in prisons. Some inmates send us letters saying there is no library at the prison they're at and therefore they have no access to reading materials.

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with most prisoners locked up for non-violent crimes. Midwest Books to Prisoners
seeks to empower the people we send books to, through education for self-determination and a future beyond the prison industrial complex.

For more info: check out our website
b4p.azone.org/ or email us at
mwbtp (at) riseup.net