We posed this question to Glennor Shirley, Library Coordinator for the Correctional Education Libraries in Maryland. Her answer was:
Detention Centers house prisoners with short sentences and are run by the local government, sometimes in collaboration with local public libraries.
Prisons are run by the state government and house inmates with sentences ranging from 2 years to life. Prison libraries try to model public library services and aim to meet the informational, educational, popular reading, and lifelong learning needs of the inmates.
They strive to develop a core collection of reference and popular reading materials, but resources may vary depending on funding and commitment of the prison administration.
Inmates in maximum security prisons want sentence reduction so information needs center around legal resources. The libraries have legal databases and core legal collections to meet the constitutional mandate of “access to the court.” In medium, minimum, and pre release prisons, libraries have fewer legal resources and a wider range of materials to help the inmate for a successful transition back to society.
Special collections include, legal resources, books on the trade, career information, family relations, anger management, how to write resume and cover letters, interview for jobs, and lots of directories. Directory information includes access to legal help, homeless shelters, county resources, drug addiction centers , food stamps, government funding, health providers, family counseling centers, where and how to get GED. In the women’s prisons, women are interested in regaining custody of their children so there is information on Family Law, custody, and visitation issues.
Some colleges offer post secondary courses in some prisons. The library will collaborate with the instructors who provide special materials for the course, by stocking and shelving the materials. Prison Librarians may work with the state or county law libraries to obtain photocopies or materials that are housed in the law libraries but would be too costly for the prison libraries to purchase. They also make use of the resources of the State Library Resource Center for training, interlibrary loan, and photocopies.
A great resource for potential prison librarians is Library Services to the Incarcerated: Applying the Public Library Model in Correctional Facility Libraries by Sheila Clark and Erica MacCreaigh. Libraries Unlimited, 2006.
To learn more about prison libraries, Glennor Shirley has a blog called Prison Librarian.
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