NCJ Number
70835
Date Published
1979
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This report focuses on the library facilities available to inmates in Staffordshire, England, and is based on an investigation conducted by the Home Office Prison Department.
Abstract
Six establishments in Staffordshire provide a wide range of prison sevices. Stafford and Featherstone are both adult training prisons, Moor Court and Drake Hall are open women's adult prisons, Swinfen Hall is a juvenile prison, and Werrington is a senior detention center. Staffordshire is divided into nine areas for library purposes. Responsibility for prison library service is delegated to area librarians, but book exchanges are provided though county library areas responsible for library services. Within the prisons, library service is the overall managerial responsibility of the prison education officer. At present, county service to prisons is not adequately coordinated, and the organization is inefficient. The standard of service in the prison library should be the same as that of the local libaray, and resources should be used in such a way as to ensure a common standard. In addition, services should be decentralized to library areas rather than being divided between headquarters and areas. A coordinator of prison library services should be appointed on the county library staff at a senior level. Also prison libraries should be open as often and for as long as possible, consultations should take place between prison staff and county library staff regarding selection and arrangement of furniture and equipment, and prison library officers should be encouraged to participate in library assistants' certificate programs offered by local colleges. Appendixes present statistical data, library standards, a list of 19 suggested refernce books for prison libraries, and inmate educational courses (1978).