Books Through Bars

Help BTB Spread Knowledge!

lin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:28:12 +0000

We all say “knowledge is power,” yet the budget for prisons is growing
at a higher rate than that for schools…increasing incarceration rates
reveal that something in our system is broken. We can find the
solutions in enlightening minds. Let’s do so.
- Kevin J. Marinelli, SCI Greene (Death Row)

We all know that our nation has a long way to go when it comes to
prioritizing education over incarceration. Books Through Bars lives in
that gap–the space between where we are now, and the future world we
envision. We occupy that gap by creating opportunities for education
both inside and outside prison walls.

As we move forward into a new year, ripe with the possibility for new
forms of justice to emerge, we thank you considering supporting Books
Through Bars this holiday season. Our vision: a world where we each
have access to the education that will give us power over our own
futures, is only possible with the help of people like you!

Please consider donating funds, or click the “get involved” link above for information on donating books or
volunteering.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Books Through Bars, and may 2012
bring positive changes for you, your community, and our global
community!

2011 at Books Through Bars

lin — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:22:05 +0000

Over the past year, during which we sent more than 7,000 packages of reading materials to prisoners, we expanded our efforts to promote education beyond the exchange of books. Our innovative educational
initiatives included:

A week-long film festival and speaking series, featuring 17 films dedicated to exploring important topics from the prison economy, to the history of prisoner resistance in the 1970s, to the racialized face of immigration detention;
An expanded service-learning program, which engaged more than 100 local junior high and high school students in vital discussions around prison justice through hands-on, group volunteer sessions;
Our second annual Read-a-Thon, featuring writings, films, speakers, and readings of our correspondence with prisoners, all around the theme “Instead of Prisons…”;
A day of programming around the book Grace Before Dying, an exploration in text and photography of the prisoner-led hospice program at Angola Prison;
The launch of a new correspondence project, Address This!, which will allow prisoners to enroll in courses through the mail, on topics ranging from Black Social Movements to Community Healing and
Reproductive Justice.

May 14th – Transformative Justice Read-a-Thon

lin — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 23:10:50 +0000

On Saturday, May 14th, from 11am – 10pm, Books Through Bars will be hosting a day of reading, workshops and discussions on alternatives to prisons at the A-Space (4722 Baltimore Ave, Phila). Presenting groups include: Teachers’ Action Group, California Prison Moratorium Project, Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Philly Stands Up, Safe Outside the System, and more. Free food and drink all day long. $5 – $20 suggested donation; no one turned away.

Complete schedule of the day’s sessions, as well as downloads of the readings to accompany the sessions, .

Featuring workshops and facilitated conversations from:

11:30am-12:30pm
â€œThe Other Lawâ€?: A Perspective on Alternative Justice From
South America

1:00pm-2:00pm
Teacherâ€™s Action Group(TAG) Restorative Justice Committee
Reading: Pushed Out: Youth Voices on the Droupout Crisis in Philadelphia

2:30pm-3:30pm
How to Stop A Prison
w/ Craig Gilmore, CA Prison Moratorium Project
Reading: Prison Town comic

4:00pm-5:00pm
Sylvia Rivera Law Project on Fighting State Discrimination
against Gender Non-Conforming People

5:30pm-6:30pm
Supporting Safer Communities with Philly Stands Up
Reading: assorted readings on supporting safer communities
About generationFIVE
Self-Care NOW: Sustaining Ourselves and Our Communities
Our Approach, Our Analysis by Philly Stands Up
Stories of everyday people ending violence: Rachael’s story and Cultural Center Confronts Sexual Violence (Liz)

7:00pm-8:00pm
Safe OUTside the System (Audre Lorde Project) on Community-based Anti-violence Strategies
A Different Kind of Morning in America
Audrey Lorde/Safe Outside the System Statement

8:30pm-9:30pm
Film Screening of Hollow Water (a film on the traditional restorative justice practices of one indigenous community)
Readings:
Violence and the State by Standing Deer
Little Rock Reed Excerpt from Little Rock Reed