Challenging mass incarceration through books, education, and community engagement.
“War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.”
So goes the official slogan of George Orwell’s Oceania, a hyper-surveillance-based police state underpinned by the illogic of doublethink.
Read More “How Much Does It Cost to Read a Free Book on a Free Tablet?”
APBP is taking on our next big challenge: creating and supporting credit-bearing college courses for incarcerated students. And we need your help.
APBP has been awarded the 2019 Amplifier Award from Barrelhouse Magazine. We are so excited about this partnership that will help us promote writing and artwork by incarcerated people in West Virginia.
Our work emanates from two interconnected premises: education is a basic human right, and engaging the community in educational justice efforts is a requisite component to building sustainable restorative justice models.
Since 2004, we have mailed over 50,000 books.
100 imprisoned people (75 women, 25 men) and 27 volunteers have participated in our book clubs.
30 incarcerated students have earned WVU college credit.
We’ve hosted 25+ wrapping parties for community volunteer groups.
But don’t just take it from us. Hear what our friends on the inside have to say about our work.
At APBP, there are three main tasks for volunteers: opening letters from people in prison, matching the requests in the letters to a donated book on our shelves, and wrapping books in brown paper to be put in the mail.…
As doctors and scientists around the world struggle to recommend treatments and preventive measures for COVID-19, they also stress the importance of social distancing and maintaining proper hygiene practices. How capable are U.S. prisons—with their often cramped spaces and scant…
In December 2016, I received an email from an attorney asking me if I would be interested in writing to one of his clients on death row. He said the client was working on several writing projects, mainly fantasy books,…
Read More Writing from Death Row: On Being Transgender in Prison
In many ways this [book club] and your time/effort have been an emotional and intellectual lifeline for me.
Because of your book program sending me Michie’s West Virginia Code Annotated, I was able to litigate an amended sentence order from life without parole to eligibility for parole after serving 15 years. In other words, you helped save my life. Thank you.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity. You have indeed put some sunshine in my rather drab life imprisoned as I am here on Death Row.
