Books to Prisoners

Prisoners in Wisconsin face significant barriers to accessing books and information. Prison libraries have been steadily defunded and books that remain on library shelves are largely tattered and obsolete. Wisconsin Books to Prisoners (WBTP), an all-volunteer, non-profit project, has been compensating for these deficiencies since 2006. Our mission is to provide books to prisoners, at no cost, on topics or genres of literature of interest and value to them. Since the inception of our project, WBTP has sent 70,000 books to eager readers incarcerated in Wisconsin.

In this presentation, learn about the history of our project and the challenges we’ve faced defending the rights of prisoners to read—rights that are being eroded by lucrative partnerships between for profit vendors and Departments of Corrections. In short, opportunities to read that are freely accessible to patrons of public libraries have a hefty price tag if you are living behind bars.

We’ll have letters from prisoners to read, copies of zines we’ve created on popular topics like learning to draw, and copies of our recently published book Booked with Books, a collection of over hundred books reviews, fiction and non-fiction, by prisoners in Wisconsin.

Booked with Books will be available to purchase for $15, cash or check. 

Various zines will also be available for $3 - $7, cash or check.