 "Photo: Eliot Meyer")
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To all undercover librarians, hot volunteers, event planners and graphic designers, Inside Books Project wants you. Think free food, good music, cool people and the chance to work for a better community. What else is there to think about?
The Inside Books Project works with local prison systems to send inmates books they want to read, which mostly includes dictionaries, GED materials, mythology and fiction.
"The justice system provides very little education and rehabilitation," said Susanna Commins, a leader in the organization. "It's impossible to remain sane in prison; it's dehumanizing." Inside Books Project hosted a worker's party Friday through Sunday at Rhizome Collective Warehouse, where they normally meet twice a week in the evenings and once a week in the afternoon. John Nation, one of the group's leaders, said that about 150 people gathered throughout the weekend to open letters, match them with books and write a letter back appreciating their interest and inviting them to write again. Many stayed overnight, and at 2 a.m. Monday, they reached their goal.
"We've never been this caught up," Nation said. "They finished up every letter."
According to the Pew Center on the States, Texas leads the nation with the most prisons, followed by California. Jason Clark, Public Information Officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said that there are currently 155,000 offenders behind bars in the state of Texas.
The Inside Books Project is looking for donations and people to read inmate letters. Although this weekend they were able to go read every letter they had on hand, they still need economic donations to pay for all the postage. For more information, visit their Web site at www.insidebooksproject.org.
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