Back To Books

I re-involved myself in Books Through Bars, with which I have a long history. In the eleven years since I last volunteered, the system has become far more focused and efficient.

I do letter logging. I take inmate request letters that have arrived earlier (the backlog is 5 weeks now) and I enter it in the organization's database from my laptop at home. If the prisoner has been released or moved to a different prison, I locate him or her with websites for each state system, or the federal system. Then I read each letter and make a label for the back of the envelope (see them at lower left) that states what areas of reading are asked for, and what the restrictions are at that particular prison.

This processing of the letters saves a huge percentage of the group's volunteer time and postage costs, besides serving the inmates' needs faster than was possible before. We used to do some of these things manually, but locating the inmates alone avoids what I remember as at least two or three postal tubs full of returned book parcels each month.

The current system inventories the requests as they are filled, and the postage is handled electronically instead of applying stamps on each package by hand. It's a very different affair from what I remember.

We serve only seven states now, because other programs like ours have been born all over the United States. When I first volunteered over 20 years ago, there were only two, and both were quite tiny.

I stayed for the weekly packing café, selecting books to fill requests. In the picture are some of the student volunteers who came and got us closer to being caught up with the flow of letters.

It feels good to be back on this.