Walsh: Don’t be miserly with books

In make believe, prison books usually are diversions – a Bible carved out to hide the rock hammer in “The Shawshank Redemption” or a field guide full of clues about The Company in “Prison Break.”
In real life, prisoners actually read.
And one civil rights attorney says Utah’s Department of Corrections is profiting from inmates’ craving for the written word.
Since 2004, the state has had an exclusive contract with Barnes & Noble to sell books to prisoners. The Department of Corrections’ commissary charges a $1 processing fee and pockets the difference between what inmates pay and what the bookseller charges.
Attorney Brian Barnard calls it “profiteering.”

Full article here.

September 18, 2008 by Uncategorized 0

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