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Every month, we receive about 700 letters from incarcerated people requesting books.
About
Who We Serve
Books Through Bars has been sending free books to incarcerated people in six mid-Atlantic states (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia) since 1987. Learn more about why this service is important.
To learn about programs serving people in other states, check out Prison Book Program’s list of books to prisoners programs. We’re all unaffiliated, although of course we admire each other’s work.
What We Send
We do our best to send the books people ask us for, whatever those may be. By fulfilling all requests to the best of our ability, we work to support self-determination, self-education, and healing behind bars.
Nearly all of the books we send are donated. That means our ability to fulfill requests depends on the donations we receive.
By donating books, you can help ensure that incarcerated people receive the books they need!
How It Works
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We select the books from our library that best fulfill each request.
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We send the books to their recipients, along with an invoice and a note of solidarity.
Our Impact
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Each month, we:
Send approximately 2,100 books to about 700 people incarcerated in Pennsylvania and surrounding states
Hold 12+ packing sessions for new and returning volunteers
Provide space for critical thought and dialogue for about 150 participants in our Address This! political correspondence program
Host four or more service-learning sessions with interfaith, community, school, and youth groups
Save hundreds of books from the landfill!
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In addition, we have:
Sent or delivered large donations of books to dozens of prison libraries
Coordinated art exhibitions of “Contexts,” a collection of artwork by prisoners, across the tri-state area, and published the book, Insiders’ Art: The Contexts Collection by Artists in Prison
Received grants from, among others, the Independence Foundation, the Phoebus Criminal Justice Initiative/Bread and Roses Community Fund, the Sparkplug Foundation, and the Children Can Shape the Future Foundation
Received the 2015 Aggie Moran Human Rights Award for our significant contribution to the working class struggle for human rights
Provided consultation and guidance to emerging prison book programs around the country, and hosted the first-ever Prison Book Program National Conference
Hosted numerous events to raise awareness about prison issues, including a film festival, a public conversation on alternatives to prisons, and a display of quilts made by prisoner-volunteers in Angola’s hospice program
Celebrated our 30th anniversary in 2017!
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Books Through Bars Promotes Education—and Better Futures—With Free Books for Incarcerated People: Billy Penn, June 16, 2025
Books Through Bars: Discussing the Importance of Books in Prisons with Dr. Tom Haney: Pursuing Justice podcast episode, March 21, 2024
Sentences for the Sentenced: The Philadelphia Citizen, March 11, 2024
Second First Chance: A documentary produced by students from Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication, May 5, 2019
Under Pressure, Pa. Prisons Repeal Restrictive Book Policy: The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 2, 2018
Pa. Prisons Sell Inmates eBooks via Private Contractor, But They Can Be Expensive: WHYY, October 8, 2018
Pa. Prison Authorities Curb Letters, Books, Newspapers: The Militant, October 1, 2018
One Review of Pa. Prisons’ Pricey Ebooks: ‘Books That Are Available for Free, That Nobody Wants Anyway’: The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 21, 2018
Return to Sender: No More Mailing Books to Inmates in Pennsylvania: Slate, September 19, 2018
Pa. Prison Books and Mail Policies Draw Protests, Petitions, and Possible Legal Challenges: The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 13, 2018
Pennsylvania Prisons Terminating Book Donations Amid ‘Drug Crisis’: Billy Penn, September 12, 2018
Barbara Hirshkowitz, Activist Who Aided Prisoners: obituary for our co-founder in The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 22, 2007