NCJ Number
166493
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 4 Dated: (July 1996) Pages: 120-122
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes the technology used in Maryland to provide law library access to inmates.
Abstract
In Maryland, major Division of Correction facility libraries are organized in a system managed by professional librarians. The system status permits them to be networked to other types of libraries statewide. To help provide access, librarians developed programs and services to augment those furnished by persons trained in the law. They strategically applied technologies for resource-sharing and network-connecting as electronic tools became available to the library and information community. Each major library in the system contains a small core of law resources in print. A centralized document delivery service supplements these reference resources by providing case law at an inmate's request. The program, Library Assistance to State Institutions (LASI), has evolved from reliance on photocopy technology to an electronic online database. This information resource can be accessed by a librarian located anywhere in the State. Maryland's Correctional Education Libraries subscribe to the LEXIS service, which includes more than four million documents that contain State and Federal statutes, codes, regulations, and cases. The database can be used 24 hours a day, and the information is instantaneous and current. The service is available to every inmate, even those in prerelease. As emerging technologies have developed, LASI has increased the availability of legal resources to correctional facilities.