And this happens more often than one may think. Imagine this if you will; it’s May of 2007, you are a young person from a disadvantaged socio-economic background (which many prisoners have). You get imprisoned for the next 10 years, and you have no access to technology, information, or education. You are released in 2017, and everybody is running around with a laptop, smartphones and tablets, everything is being digitized, while you are just standing there, not even knowing what an iPhone is, let alone how to operate one. It’s tough to find your place in society now that you feel like a complete outsider.
And this is exactly where prison libraries enter the frame.
Libraries exist to serve their communities. Said communities should include those who are traditionally looked at and treated as outsiders; people who are incarcerated. The time inmates spend in jail is not a pleasant one for many reasons, the lack of access to information and education being one of them. But that is something that can be addressed by prison libraries.
Prisons are penal rehabilitation facilities – and those words are equally important. If you just punish people, but don’t provide them with the opportunity to learn skills that are required in everyday life then the likelihood of these people returning to prison increases.
While this post is talking about prison libraries specifically, most things mentioned below apply to other facilities, like mental health and rehabilitation institutions too. With this little disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about the importance of these libraries…
21st Century Information & Library Network 
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