Books 2 Prisoners (B2P), a program run by the Carleton chapter of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), is expanding from a single office at OPIRG-Carleton to a second location at the Garden Spot Kitchen.
B2P collects books from the Ottawa community for the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. The books can be sent to Correctional Services Canada to be distributed.
“Sometimes prisoners write letters to the group asking for books, and the group will write back and try to send books in keeping with the request as much as possible,” said Angela Mooney, OPIRG-Carleton coordinator.
B2P decided to expand from their office at OPIRG-Carleton and collaborate with the Carleton food collective due to limited space.
“Books 2 Prisoners has a lot of books, so we were running into a problem of not being able to store them all,” Mooney said.
B2P currently has over 1,000 books, however Mooney said they still experience difficulties with the donations meeting the requirements of the prison.
“It is difficult because a lot of books people want to donate aren’t always ones we can send to prisons,” Mooney said.
Mooney said some of the requirements are that books cannot have writing in them, they have to be in good-to-excellent condition, and they can only accept soft cover books.
With the new expansion, Mooney said she hopes they can grow their core group of eight to 10 volunteers, and incorporate and revitalize old programs.
Mooney added the B2P program can provide benefits that will be useful for both prisoners and the community.
“Ideally, prison is not the end stop—there is a reconnecting and coming back into the community . . . I think the interests of prisoners and community can merge,” she said.
Chelsea Birchall, a third-year sociology student, said she believes B2P is a beneficial organization for the inmates and community.
“When they get out, they will probably be better members [of the community] . . . and they might encourage other people to read,” she said.
Selina Kelloggs, a second-year psychology student, said she believes the education books provide is key.
“Obviously they’ve done something [wrong] . . . whether it be big or small and they obviously do need education in any form,” Kelloggs said.
Mooney said an important benefit of the program is it helps prisoners in jail and detention centres cope with the isolation that is felt when being physically constrained.
“Books can offer a way to pass time but also a way to learn about new things . . . in prison where people are confined physically,” Mooney said. “This can be a very nice resource for people to have.”
