Correctional Services Program

The goal of The New York Public Library's Correctional Services Program is to get books into the hands of incarcerated New Yorkers and to provide inmates accurate information on useful community resources upon release.

NYPL's Correctional Services consists of two staff members and several outstanding volunteers. Twice a week they run four mobile libraries and staff one standing library at Rikers Island. Recently, in partnership with the Department of Corrections and supported in part by funds from the New York State Library’s Family Literacy Library Services grant program, Correctional Services has run a book recording project with detained fathers at Rikers Island. Dads take a series of early literacy workshops followed by a recording session where dads can make a CD of themselves reading a favorite book to their kids. We anticipate adding the program to more facilites shortly.

Writing From Prison

Recently we have been accepting writing from people incarcetated in jails and prisons in New York. When we transcribe the writing, we will put the work here: Writing From Prison. Check out what we have so far. If you have any questions about contacting one of the writers showcased, please let us know. Also, check out The Voice From Inside blog by John Wannamaker, currently detained in MDC Brooklyn.

Volunteering

Each week Correctional Services receives roughly 60 letters from inmates throughout the US requesting information on a variety of topics. The success and credibility of our program depends largely on how well, and how quickly, we answer inmate letters. Therefore, we actively recruit volunteers with strong research or library work experience to assist us in our efforts. Inmates from around the country have recently benefited from the excellent work of our volunteers from organizations like the Pratt Institute, the University of Michigan and the Brooklyn Public Library. Please call Nick Higgins at 212-340-0971 if interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities with Correctional Services.

Donations

Until very recently, Correctional Services has had no budget to purchase new books. In December 2011 we were offered a generous sum of 5,000 dollars by NYPL to use for collection development. Similarly, the non-profit Literacy for Incarcerated Teens (LIT) has supported us with funds of 3,000 dollars in 2011 for the establishment of library collections for teens at Rikers and other State run detention facilities.

We still do accept donations, but ask interested parties to please visit our Amazon Wish List to see what we are looking for. Details and donation suggestions can be found here. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. If you are interested in donating used books to the service, please call Nick Higgins at 212-340-0971 to find out if the books are appropriate for our collection.

We are also looking for ways to fund part-time staff to manage our libraries at Rikers Island. As stated above, we are a staff of 2 and rely heavily on volunteers. It would help the program immensely if we were able to hire additional staff from our volunteer corps. If you wish to donate directly to this effort, we can accept checks made out to NYPL CORRECTIONAL SERVICES of any amount. Also feel free to visit our growing inventory of books for sale on our LIBRARY THING page. Each book is a flat 5 dollars. Simply choose a book and email Nick Higgins at nicholashiggins@nypl.org indicating what book you would like sent to you. We'll send you the book, you'll send us a 5 dollar check. If this pilot is successful, we hope to include PayPal and credit card purchases down the road. More titles will be added weekly.

Connections

With support from the library, Correctional Services publishes Connections and The Job Search, an annual guide and directory of resources in New York City available to help former inmates when they are leaving correctional facilities. Connections also serves as a guide on preparing for the world of work.

The booklet is free to those incarcerated in New York State prisons and local jails, and to agencies that help to provide service to former inmates.

A few of the organizations dedicated to helping the formerly incarcerated can be found here.

The library prints 8,000 copies, which are sent to federal and state correctional facilities, and to local city government agencies upon request, including community based organizations serving the prison population. Because of our limited print run, we ask that community based organizations try to rely on the pdf version of Connections (see below) to use with their clients. Relevant pages can be easily printed. This will allow us to have enough print copies to send directly to soon-to-be-released inmates who have no access to the Internet at their facilities. Thank you for your understanding.

Statistics

Monthly statistics on inmates served can be found here.

For information about these services, contact Correctional Services at 212-340-0971

CONNECTIONS 2012 pdf