This article from the NYT is about intellectual freedom and the access that convicted criminals have not specifically to libraries, but just to literature in general. It highlights a program called Changing Lives Through Literature (CLTL). According to the website, it is “an alternative sentencing program based on the power of literature to transform lives through reading and group discussion.” Felons and other offenders are given a choice, between participating in a book club/seminar, thus granting them probation, or going to jail. The only conclusive study, involving less than 100 people, showed that participants achieved half the recidivism rate of those that did not attend. And the program only costs $500 a head, as opposed to $30,000 a year for incarceration. But this program has apparently angered some parents, who say they are paying a lot of money for their kids to take the same classes that these felons are.
I guess I didn’t feel that way after really considering this program. (I did think of prison librarians - check out this article about them). Whether or not these inmates become experts on Fitzgerald or Shakespeare, I don’t know, and I don’t know that that is the point. I think more about intellectual freedom, and how the inmates are able to read (what is chosen for them), form opinions, and express themselves, and how the act of just getting together, connecting with other people, and looking at their situations objectively would all benefit them. And it seems like, or I would like to think, that they would learn more from these experiences, than from being locked up. Ultimately, it seems like the access that this program (and prison libraries) affords people could better prepare them for the adjustment to life after prison. But should felons and criminals be given this choice? Is someone’s intellectual freedom lost once they go to jail?
2 comments:
I had never heard about this program - a prison alternative - until your post. It's an interesting idea and I'll look into it some more.
I like this idea a lot and I think that it's OK that books are chosen by the program people at first. It seems like the process of choosing a book for the group could be an awesome process, too. It would empower the offenders to think about what would be interesting to their peers and what would benefit the group, encouraging empathy and understanding of social groups.
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