LIBRARIES IN CORRECTIONS FACILITIES AND PRISONS: A COMMUNITY ANALYSIS AND INFORMATION SERVICES IDENTIFICATION

Luke Sutton, Sheila McNair, Anna Kozlowska, Lauren McLellan, Vanessa Liptack, Liz DeBacker

The Incarcerated Community: A General Overview

Demographics Level of Education Linguistics Providing information about facilities in Illinois

Juvenile

to adult

Why we chose this community

Interested in the dichotomy between rights to education/information access and prisoners deserving punishment Are libraries used as tools for rehabilitation? Filtering tools within a prison library-Are there limits to what prisoners can read? Do prisoners have access to technology/Internet? How is library visitation regulated? Are books checked-out?

Clark County Juvenile Detention Center

Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation and the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District have been working with the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) since 2003 to establish a special collection of books inside the JDC so that teens will have access to reading materials and programs that will improve their reading and literacy skills. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IXjHZNZ_ NQ

Juvenile Justice Facility in IllinoisWarrenville (as of 2008)

IDJJ Formation Budgetor lack thereof All female facility Average age Average capacity General Comparison to Illinois DOC

Better Library Programs in Other States Ohio Arizona Oregon California

Demographics of Ohio Youths being served by ODYS and its libraries

92.6% male 7.4% female 38.5% white 54.9% African American 6.6% other Ages 10-21

Better Examples of Literacy Services in Juvenile Correctional Facilities- Ohio

Facilities-are certified high schools

Part

of ODYS (Ohio Department of Youth Services)

Run by professional librarians, sometimes with student assistants Flexible circulation policies because of frequent relocation of students Have access to restricted online catalog & intranet GED preparation, READ 180 program, and Striving to Achieve In Reading and Re-entry

Ohio DYS & Literacy Improvement

Read 180- five-year 14 million dollar grant each facility [8 in Ohio] received from the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to be used over 5 years. (Herring, 158).
Seeks

to combat adult illiteracy by preventative measures ODYS 1 of 8 institutions to receive the grant

Dedicated librarians in ODYS

Respond

to students requests (e.g., spending more of the budget on graphic novels) Requests author visits to engage the youth

Annas State for Youth Correctional Facilities

Annas Slide Continued

Relationship between Youth and Adult Incarcerated Communities

Information Needs for Inmates

As defined by Library Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions (Association for Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies [ASCLA], 1992:

Health information, information for non-English speakers, and parenting information are three of the most important emerging information needs within todays prisons. (46). In need of information:

on institution regulations and procedures to maintain contact with the outside community on vocational skills education support for rehabilitative programs self-directed reading for lifelong learning and personal needs recreational reading on reentry into the community. (46).

Characteristics of our chosen community

Demographics from Library Services Behind Bars: 70% of inmates scored at a below fourthgrade literacy level, and other research states that 75% of inmates are below a twelfth-grade level of literacy. Nineteen percent are completely illiterate. Sixty-eight percent of all state prisoners did not receive a high school diploma. (44).
Could

good literacy programs at youth detention centers help this problem?

Demographics contd

In state prisons, 73% of women and 55% of men suffered from some type of mental health problem. (44). (health information needs) Elderly population: A study by the National Center on Institutions and alternatives published in 1998 found that there has been substantial growth in the elderly population of prisons over the last several decades1997, there were more than 50,000, and it is predicted that by the year 2010 this number will be around 200,000. (44). (health information needs) From 1990 to 2000, there was an 87% increase in the number of mothers in jail, and a 61% increase in fathers in jail. (45). (parenting information needs)

Members of the Incarcerated Community and the Digital Divide

Especially problematic for those serving extended amount of time. Ways around this problem: In Alaska, the department of corrections has recently contracted with Lexis-Nexis to provide a digital law library for inmate use. Similar setups would be helpful with health information also. Difficult in other areas where such a direct route isnt as effective, as in the need for information on child care.

Technology and Prison Libraries

Total budgets for materials: $0 to $72,000 How budgets are spent No relationship between library budget and access to computers Common electronic resources E-mail Resources training

Updates in Technology Access

Increased use of automated technology in facilities in the last ten years More than four-fifths of libraries said computers were available at their facilities Staff and inmate access to the Internet appears to be growing; nearly a fifth of librarians (18%) now report having Internet access Smaller institutions were more likely to have made much greater use of automated technology (70%) than either medium (60%) or large size institutions (50%) over the past ten years

Discussion

Works Cited

The Ohio Department of Youth Services Juvenile Prison Library System by Diedra N. Herring Library Services Behind Bars by Sandra Annette Greenway