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.…
Appalachian Prison Book Project
How APBP Is Responding to COVID-19 Challenges
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…
Writing from Death Row: On Being Transgender in Prison
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,…
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My First Semester Working with Incarcerated People
The day before going into a prison for the first time, I was anxious that I would somehow break the dress code and not be allowed in, despite reading through the dress code at least five times. I really wanted…
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In Prison, It’s Impossible to Practice Social Distancing
As a prison legal aid, Steven has assisted people for years with their legal cases by reading trial transcripts, diagnosing errors, and preparing the appropriate pleading. He wrote an essay about his experience in prison toward the beginning of the…
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“People Will Die:” What It’s Like to Be in Prison During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Prisons aren’t prepared for pandemics like COVID-19. For Steven, incarcerated in Pennsylvania, such an inadequate response means he is helping other incarcerated men write compassionate release papers. The other thing to know about Steven is this: Early in the pandemic,…
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Religion Behind Bars: Building Community During COVID-19
In this excerpt from his journal, Magical Charlie wrote about his experience with COVID-19 restrictions in a Pennsylvania prison: March 22, 2020 After they nixed our outside volunteers, our Sunday night Prayer & Share group was kaput. On the 19th…
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APBP Suspending Volunteer Operations During Coronavirus Pandemic
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Appalachian Prison Book Project is temporarily closing its doors. Closed Until Further Notice APBP’s office is located in the Aull Center, which is owned and managed by the Morgantown Public Library. When they…
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Books vs. Bans: When Prisons Discourage Reading
On January 23, 2020, Dwayne Betts announced that his memoir A Question of Freedom, which chronicles Betts’s time as a young man in prison and how reading saved his life, was officially banned from Virginia state prisons. Last semester, I…
The First Day in a Prison Classroom
My first day as a teaching assistant for an Inside-Out class was the first day I walked inside a prison. I had no idea what to expect and did not know what questions to ask. When we arrived at the…