One of my followers was asking about how to get books shipped to her loved one, who is incarcerated. As a general rule, most types of books can be shipped to inmates with the exception of pornography and some violent books. I order almost all of my books from Amazon and they do a fantastic job. Most facilities will not accept hard cover books, so you have to order paperbacks.
There are also book programs that send books to prisoners. Below, I have re-blogged an excerpt from: www.prisonbookprogram.org. Most of these programs ship the books for free. The choices may be limited, but they do ship a lot of political and history books.
These are a few other sites that provide books for inmates.
www.books2prisoners.org/partnerships.php, prisonbooks.info/comrades, lab2p.wordpress.com, insidebooksproject.org/resource-guide.
Also, you can get information on how to send books from: https://www.prisonactivist.org/resources
Magazines can be ordered from several sources like: www.inmatemags.com, https://inmatemagazineservice.com, www.goodiemags.com, and http://www.paisanopub.com
EXCERPT REBLOGGED:
Prison Book Program sends books to prisoners in all states except California, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, and Texas. Other books-to-prisoners programs may be able to send books to those states. These are the programs we are aware of and their areas of service.
If you would like to donate books but live outside the Boston area, we encourage you to find another books-to-prisoners program near you. Be sure to check out the group’s website for further information before dropping off your book donations.
To the best of our knowledge, the information below is up to date as of May 2014.
Asheville Prison Books Program Program located in: NC Serves: GA, NC, SC, TN
Athens Books to Prisoners Program located in OH: Serves OH.
Appalachian Prison Book Project Program located in: WV Serves: KY, MD, OH, TN, VA, WV
Bellingham Books to Prisoners (affiliate of BTP Seattle) Program located in: WA Serves: All US States except CA and MA
Book ‘Em Program located in: PA Serves: PA only
Books Between the Bars Program located in: TX Serves: TX only
Books for Prisoners Program located in: CA Serves: All US states except MA
Books Through Bars, Philadelphia Program located in: PA Serves: PA, NJ, NY, DE, MD, VA, and WV
Books to Prisoners – Seattle Program located in: WA Serves: All US states except CA and MA
Chicago Books to Women in Prison Program located in: IL Serves: AZ, CA, CT, FL, IL, IN, KY, MS, MO, and OH
DC Books to Prisons Project Program located in: DC Serves: All US States except New England, IL, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, WA, WI.
Inside Books Program located in: TX Serves: TX only
Internationalist Prison Book Collective Program located in: NC Serves: AL, and some prisons in NC
Ithaca College Books Thru Bars Program located in NY: Serves: NY
LGBT Books to Prisoners Program located in: Madison, WI Serves: LGBTQ prisoners in all states except TX
Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners Program located in: LA Serves: AL, AR, LA, MS. Women and LA prisoners are prioritized.
Maoist Internationalist Movement’s Free Political Books to Prisoners Program located in: IL Serves: All US States except MA
Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project Program located in: IN Serves: AR, IN, IA, KS, KY, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, OK, SD, TN, and WI
NYC Books Through Bars Program located in: NY Serves: All US states except AL, FL, LA, MA, MI, MS, NC, OH, and PA with a priority on NY.
Olympia Books to Prisoners Program located in: WA Serves: Contact organization.
Open Books Prison Book Project Program located in: FL Serves: FL only
Portland Books to Prisoners Program located in: OR Serves: All US states except MA
Prison Book Program – Quincy Program located in: MA Serves: All US states except CA, IL, MI, MD, NV, and TX
Prison Library Project Program located in: CA Serves: All US states except MA
Prisoners Literature Project Program located in: CA Serves: All US states except OR and MA
Providence Books Through Bars Program located in: RI Serves: All US states
Read Between The Bars Program located in: AZ Serves: AZ only
Reading Reduces Recidivism: Program located in IL, Serves prison libraries in IL, does not send books to prisoners directly
Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners Project Program located in: IL Serves: IL
Unitarian Universalist Ann Arbor Prison Books Program located in: MI Serves: Select MI institutions only
Wisconsin Books to Prisoners Program located in: WI Serves: WI only
Women’s Prison Book Project Program located in: MN Serves: All US states except CT, FL, IL, IN, MA, MI, MS, OH, OR, and PA
Information for Friends and Family of Inmates 