“Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are.” –Mason Cooly.
The Appalachian Prison Book Project, located on Spruce Street, is a non-profit organization that sends books to prison inmates throughout the Appalachian region. The books are donated by the public, and then sent out by volunteers according to letter requests from inmates.
The organization launched when graduate English Professor Katy Ryan and her class used the idea for a class project. Realizing there were not any prison book projects that served the Appalachian region, APBP became permanent.
If you are reading this and you are wondering the same thing I was, then you’re asking yourself why in the world anyone would want to help prisoners. Consider this: Would you rather spend your time volunteering at a soup kitchen feeding unfortunate families, or would you prefer to help members of your own community who have previously been taken out of the community for criminal behavior?
I love reading. In fact, one of my favorite places to be is in a library (yea, I’m that girl). I can certainly not protest to promoting literacy, but I can’t help but wonder what might drive people to put forth their volunteer time helping prisoners.
Let us consider the bigger picture:
Angie Iafrate, an APBP volunteer, said that what most people do not realize is that many inmates are eventually going to re-enter society.
“We desire that persons come out of the prison system making better decisions and being better contributors to society than when they went in.”
Iafrate said that studies have been found revealing reduced recidivism rates thanks to education and literacy.
Joseph Pusateri is not an APBP volunteer, but he does spend his time writing letters to prison inmates.
“No matter what you’ve thought, felt believed or done, no matter what’s been done to you, there is nothing that can happen in a person’s life, that God cannot transform into something magnificent,” said Pusateri.
Pusateri would like to remind us that we are all God’s children, and God loves us all unconditionally, no matter what we have done. It is our responsibility to spread God’s unconditional love.
I believe that most people all too quickly forget to imagine what life can be like kept away from the outside world. Books are an escape for all of us and that includes inmates. They provide a way for prisoners to educate themselves and free their minds. Unfortunately, prisons do not advertise for the program.
“That’s what’s crazy, it’s all word of mouth by the inmates,” said Alicia Petrarca, an APBP volunteer.
Each inmate is allowed to have one book per letter, or one book and a dictionary or Bible. The most popular requests APBP receives are for educational books or dictionaries.
“There are no dictionaries on our shelves right now,” said Petrarca.
Volunteers are always needed at APBP. Volunteer work includes stalking the shelves, reading and responding to letters, packaging books, and sending them out
Mountaineer Life 
Good story! I had no idea that this program even existed! I wonder why the prisons don’t advertise that this opportunity is available to the inmates??…Maybe that could be another story!
Yes! I’m so glad you did this group. My boyfriend is a member of this organization and we sometimes donate old books to them. It’s definitely an interesting organization. Katy Ryan actually teaches some ENGL courses surrounding this topic at WVU. She has students read prison book literature and has even had some notable people speak during class. I can’t think of the person she had speak last semester, but I know there was a very successful movie made after his story (he was wrongfully imprisoned).
It’s true, volunteers are always needed there, especially to help with organizing and packaging books.
Hey, nice story. I actually have Professor Ryan for one of my English classes and she has talked about this program to our class before so this was an interesting read. I think that inmates should be allowed to read because like you said, a lot of these men are going to be released back into society one day. Readjustment can be tough, allowing these people to expand their minds can only benefit them in my opinion.
As far as them not promoting the program, Professor Ryan told us that once they started with one prison, word of mouth traveled so quickly from the prisons that they were receiving requests for books from all across the country. She thought it was so interesting how quickly the news traveled through the prison system to prisons in states like Arizona and Texas.
Interesting find. Are the pictures ones you took? If they came from the organization, you should provide some captioning information so we know a little about what we’re seeing. If they’re just clip art, well … there’s probably something else you could show.
Hi Toni! Thanks for writing this article about us. Any of your readers who would like to know more about us can go to http://aprisonbookproject.wordpress.com, or look for us on Facebook! Our Facebook page is also linked to our site. Thanks! -Angie
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