California Assembly Votes to Cut Recidivism with Education!

It's up to the governator now! The California Assembly has passed a bill that would require corrections officials to evaluate inmates' educational and "psychosocial" needs within 90 days of incarceration and create an educational program for each prisoner that could include vocational training and high school equivalency degrees.

Signaling a sharp turn in attitudes about rehabilitating state prisoners, lawmakers Tuesday approved a sweeping new program to give inmates more schooling and job training to better prepare them for release. By the slimmest of margins, the state Assembly endorsed a bill aimed at reducing the huge proportion of ex-convicts who commit new crimes or parole violations and wind up back behind bars. If signed by the governor, the bill would trigger "an unprecedented shift" in the mission of state prisons, an Assembly analysis said.

Shift in Inmate Rehab Signaled (LA Times, registration required)

Apparently, Schwarzenegger doesn't have an opinion on the bill. Please Ah-nuld, do the right thing!

Worse than Apartheid South Africa?

Did you know that the United States locks up adult black men at 8 times the rate of South Africa under apartheid??? According to Prisonsucks.com, the incarceration rates for adult black men were:

• 851 per 100,000 in apartheid South Africa
• 7,150 per 100,000 in George W. Bush's America.

So the freest country in the world locks up black men at 8.4 times the rate of the most openly racist government in recent history.

That explains the huge demand for African-American history books at the Prison Book Program.

The Cell-Door

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The Cell-Door: An internet magazine written for a free audience by prisoners
http://www.celldoor.com/

Shakespeare Behind Bars

The inmates at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in LaGrange, Kentucky not only study Shakespeare, they act out the plays. Curt Tofteland, the director of the Shakespeare Behind Bars program at the prison says that acting can transform lives – particularly those of prisoners. "The inmates have told (Tofteland) those roles allow them to grapple with emotions they wouldn't otherwise be able to confront safely." Check out this Christian Science Monitor Special Project for an indepth report on how Shakespeare is transforming lives.

Combining Books With a Great Cause

PBP is not the only organization that combines a love of books with a great social cause. The Used Bookstore Café in New York City's funky SoHo neighborhood is an gorgeous old-time retail bookstore of 2 floors of used books (with the modern addition of a coffee bar, of course). Books are well-organized into fiction and non-fiction categories for easy browsing. Amazingly, the store and café are staffed entirely with volunteers! All proceeds fund Housing Works, the nation's largest community-based AIDS service organization. Housing Works is a minority-controlled organization dedicated to providing housing, healthcare, job training, and vital supportive services to homeless people with AIDS and HIV. Book donations are accepted, and volunteers are always needed.

With such a beautifully well-stocked store, which benefits such an great cause, its impossible to leave without buying something! Be sure to visit on your next trip to NYC.

Details: http://www.housingworks.org/usedbookcafe/
Address: 126 Crosby Street (SoHo), NYC 10012.
Tel: (212) 334-3324

Pam B.
PBP-volunteer, used bookstore connoisseur, and frequent NYC visitor