Connections in Corrections

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world -

- With 698 people per 100,000 of the national population. Michigan has the 10th highest incarcerated population among the states, at around 60,300 people.

Part of CADL’s outreach includes Connections in Corrections, a program where library staff send recordings of incarcerated people reading to their children and other loved ones.

My trip to Ingham County Jail allowed me to connect with these members of the community who are often underserved by library systems.

To begin, we bring out a selection of books for various age groups: from classics like Charlotte’s Web and Goodnight Moon to newer titles like We Regret to Inform You. Then we let people choose books to send to the kids in their lives, whether they are children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews. Some write messages inside the books; others choose instead to record a short message of love and support using a recorder. If the book is shorter, they read it aloud.

The books and the recordings are then delivered to the children. “The most important thing,” we tell people who are nervous to read, “is that they hear your voice.”

If you’re interested in learning more about incarceration in the U.S., check out these books at CADL:

Nonfiction

• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration by Christine Montross
• American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer
• Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
• Migrating to Prison: America’s Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants by Garcia Hernandez
• Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon

Fiction

• Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
• If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
• Missing Daddy by Mariame Kaba
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Jane Marks
• Visiting Day by Jacqueline Woodson

Seoung K., Public Services Librarian at CADL South Lansing