Used books fill every available space in the office of the Appalachian Prison Book Project in Morgantown, W.Va., as outreach coordinator Dominique Bruno looks at unopened requests. The volunteer program has so far shipped more than 11,000 free, used books to prisoners in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio and Tennessee.By VICKI SMITH
Associated Press
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For people behind bars in six Appalachian states, they are one of the few forms of escape – hundreds of used books, wrapped in brown paper and stacked thigh-high under a table, just waiting to be shipped.
Parenting and self-help books. History and law. Dictionaries, biographies and fiction. Whatever the subject, volunteers with the Appalachian Prison Book Project believe they hold the power to unlock worlds.
From a small room in a historic house next to the Morgantown Public Library, they meticulously organize requests, exchanging letters to find just the right read and get permission from prison administrators while simultaneously scrambling to raise money for shipping.