Help us purchase materials for the PLP by purchasing items on our wish list below. Thank you!
The mission of the PLP is to provide reading material free of charge to inmates nationwide. The PLP also serves prison chaplains and librarians, drug/alcohol recovery groups, domestic abuse and HIV/AIDS support groups and others within the immediate community. Our goal is to address issues of literacy and promote personal responsibility, reflection and growth.
Our ongoing invitation is for inmates to embrace the PLP’s mission and foster a deep appreciation for the world of books, ideas, and education. We hope to help those who receive our materials to learn how to take charge of their lives in positive ways and to return to society with new awareness, abilities and the confidence to contribute to their families and communities in meaningful ways.
Why?
Rehabilitation was at one time a stated goal of the prison system. Today, funding for most educational and rehabilitation programs, including prison libraries, has been cut or completely eliminated. It is a distressing fact that today's U.S. prisons are increasingly about punishing people and warehousing human beings, not about corrections, rehabilitation, or education.
The Prison Library Project aims to confront the negativities of our prison system by giving prisoners the opportunity for self-education while behind bars, which can lead to rehabilitation. Our group's actions also seek to reduce prisoners' feelings of isolation, which we believe helps to counteract the dehumanizing effects of the prison system. We further believe that the work the PLP does gives people in prison hope for their future and helps to remind them that every single person on our earth, even one who is behind bars, is deserving of human compassion.
Please send all correspondence to the Prison Library Project to:
Prison Library Project
PMB 128
915-C West Foothill Blvd.
Claremont, CA 91711-3356
PLP Director: Doug Wallace
The Claremont Forum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, which means that your donation is fully tax deductible.
What We Do
The PLP receives nearly 300 letters a week from inmates. We mail over 30,000 books, magazines, and audio tapes each year to individuals and libraries in 600 prisons, jails and detention centers throughout the United States. Boxes of materials are also hand-delivered to local prisons and community organizations such as House of Ruth, Prototypes, and Crossroads. We also provide inmates and others with our Ways and Means Resource List – a compilation of over 200 different service and legal organizations that assist prisoners and those returning to society following incarceration.
How You Can Help
The PLP is a non-profit organization, staffed almost entirely by volunteers. It is funded by donations and activities sponsored by the Claremont Forum. The books we provide are obtained through donations by publishers, bookstores and private individuals.
Donate books, make a contribution or volunteer today! We need your support!
PLP History
Watch Huell Howser interview board member and PLP volunteer, Nora Quinn on KCET
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