Travelling Librarian 2009
ESU/CILIP Travelling Librarian Award 2008 Sibylla Parkhill Librarian, HMP Bronzefield, Kalyx Services 12th-26th October 2008
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Acknowledgements In the US I would like to thank all the librarians who took so much time out to show me around and help me with the organisation of my trip: Jill Merritt, Laura Sherbo and Elizabeth Jahnke in Washington State, and Glennor Shirley in Maryland. I would also like to thank all the librarians who showed me around the various establishments and institutions, there are too many to list here, but your hospitality and interest were greatly appreciated. In the UK I would like to thank Gill Hale of the ESU and Jill Martin of CILIP for their help and advice during my preparation for the trip. Many thanks also have to go to Peter Moody, Helga Swidenbank and Liz Hales at Kalyx for giving me the support and time needed to make the trip.
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Contents 1. Introduction
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2. Personal background
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3. Context
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4. The visits
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Washington State
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4.1.1 Washington Corrections Center for Women
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4.1.2 Western State Hospital
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4.1.3 McNeil Island Corrections Center
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4.1.4 Washington State Library
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4.1.5 Stafford Creek Corrections Center
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4.1.6 Monroe Corrections Center
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FPC SeaTac
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Washington DC
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Library of Congress
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Bureau of Prisons Library
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Maryland
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4.4.1 Jessup Correctional Institution
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4.4.2 Maryland Correctional Institution for Women
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4.4.3 Patuxent Institution
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4.4.4 Charles H. Hickey Jr School
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4.4.5 Enoch Pratt Free Library
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4.4.6 Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
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5. Conclusion/Summary of findings
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Appendices Appendix A Glossary of terms and acronyms
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Appendix B Original application
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Appendix C Expenditure
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1. Introduction The trip took place between 12th and 26th October 2008. Working as a prison librarian is often a very isolated position, even if you are part of the Public Library Authority, as you are invariably the only person with that particular set of skills and qualifications in the whole prison; inevitably, the conference organised by the Prison Libraries Group of CILIP is well attended and full of chatter as librarians compare how it is 'at your place'. Just being able to meet prison librarians from other prisons outside the UK to compare what strategies they used to get the job done was a real highlight of the trip. In general my aims for the trip were: to compare good practice to see if the same challenges existed – if not why not – and find out how they were tackled to establish relations between prison libraries and librarians in each country to gain a new perspective on how libraries work within a custodial setting
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2. Personal background I gained my MA in Information Services Management from London Metropolitan University in 2005 and started at HMP Bronzefield the same year. My background prior to that has been mainly in academic libraries, and this is the first time I have worked in a prison. I am currently working towards Chartership.
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3. Context UK and US Prisons In England and Wales we have one prison system which is part of the Department of Justice and prior to that part of the Home Office (for convenience it should be taken that ‘UK prisons’ refers to those in England and Wales specifically). The National Offender Management Service takes overall responsibility for all offenders and so also for prison policy. Her Majesty’s Prison Service is the body responsible for the state run prisons (138 establishments in total) while private sector companies are responsible for the other 11 establishments; however, the same rules apply to both HMPS and privately run prisons. At present the largest UK prison is HMP Wandsworth which has a capacity for 1,200 prisoners, but most prisons tend to have a capacity of 400-800 – this is much smaller than US prisons which can regularly hold around 1,000. After conviction prisoners are categorised along their security risk level, from Category A (high risk) to Category D (low), and placed in an establishment of an appropriate security level. (Due to their separate legal systems Scotland and Northern Ireland also have separate prison systems and for convenience it should be taken that in this report 'UK prisons' refers more specifically to England and Wales.) Some Category D establishments are also classed as ‘open’ where the prisoners are able to leave the prison, usually to attend college or go to a job in the local community. The vast majority of prisoners in both the UK and US are adult males, and this means that women prisoners and young offenders are less subject to security categorisation; fewer prisoners means fewer prisons and less need to divide prisoners by their risk level. As prisoners progress through their sentence they are re-categorised to a lower security level if this is deemed appropriate and they can then move to an establishment with a lower security category. This is a similar system to that in the US, where prisoners are kept in a jail or detention centre (US terms for remand centre) before moving after conviction to an appropriate establishment. In the western hemisphere the focus for prisons fluctuates between rehabilitation and punishment, and in very broad terms many European countries prefer the rehabilitation approach while the US tends towards the punishment approach. UK prison policy usually falls somewhere between Europe and the US; while sentences tend to be harsher here than in the rest of Europe we imprison fewer people, and for shorter terms, than in the US. However, as has been widely covered in the press, the prison population in the UK is rising fast and prisons are having to raise their capacity while large ‘titan’ prisons along the US model have been suggested as a solution. Both countries have high levels of recidivism, the ‘revolving door’ syndrome, so which approach is the best in terms of deterrence and tackling offending behaviour is debateable. The focus in US prisons on punishment over rehabilitation is obvious in some of the attitudes towards various services for prisoners. Prisoners had to pay to use the gym and other facilities such as the workshops and music rooms. However, Sibylla Parkhill
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the regime in the prisons I visited meant prisoners were unlocked and out of their cell for much longer than here in the UK, and were often only required to be behind their doors at 10pm – here final lock-up is around 7pm. Two major issues in all prisons are mental health and literacy. In the UK literacy levels in prisons are very much lower than that of the general population, and this tends to be the trend throughout prisons in the western hemisphere. Much of the education provided has to be at a relatively low level, focussing on basic literacy rather than, for example, A’ level or GCSE level qualifications, although prisoners can access higher and further education courses through distance learning schemes – these are usually only open to longer-term prisoners due to the constraints of time and funding. There are also much higher levels of mental health problems of all sorts than within the general population, from depression and borderline personality disorders to schizophrenia and psychosis, which may then also be affected by drug use. Self-harm is a big problem and there are a number of strategies aimed at helping those who self-harm and preventing them from doing serious damage. This reflects the attitude taken by the prison service towards deaths in custody, even the deaths of those who have recently left custody, which will incur a full investigation. If a prisoner has self-harmed or states their intention to do so a document is opened called an ACCT (Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork) book which follows the prisoner around the prison and enables all staff working with that prisoner to be aware of their situation and give their own feedback about how that prisoner is progressing or not. There are many strategies used by prisons in England and Wales to reduce reoffending and tackle offending behaviour: ensuring prisoners work; encouraging respectful behaviour towards each other and to staff; providing programmes to look at the elements of their life that led to them offending; providing information advice and guidance on services such as housing, jobs and benefits in preparation for release; and offering educational and work skills to enable ex-offenders to enter the job market. The Incentives and Earned Privileges scheme is one of these strategies and is designed to encourage good behaviour among inmates and divides prisoners up again, within their establishment, as Basic, Standard or Enhanced. All prisoners start out on standard and can go up or down the scale depending on how well they behave, benefits include being able to spend more money or having longer visits, although specific benefits will vary from one establishment to another. As with all public buildings and workplaces, prisons became non-smoking in 2007. However, it was decided that prisoners’ cells could be considered as private residences and so prisoners are allowed to smoke in their cells, but nowhere else. In the US prisons also went non-smoking, but the whole prison is a non-smoking area for staff and prisoners, making cigarettes contraband. Prison Libraries I have found, through visits and from talking with staff from other prisons, that each establishment in the UK has its own way of operating and its own culture; Sibylla Parkhill
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this is often informed by the physical environment of the prison and its location, by the type of prisoners held, and by the management style of the Governor (Director in private establishments). In most prisons the library services are provided by an outside agency, normally the Public Library Authority (PLA), and the service provided is supposed to closely match that provided in PLA branch libraries. Prisons in England and Wales are ruled by a set of legislative papers called Prison Service Orders (PSOs) which aim to set out every aspect of how prisons must operate. PSO 6710 outlines the role of the prison library and ensures that every prison will have a library for prisoner use, with a qualified librarian to manage it. This PSO has also been elaborated on by the Offender Learning and Skills Unit (OLSU) Offender Library Specification which sets out in more detail the level of service that should be provided. The specifications range from how many items can be borrowed and how long prisoners should be able to access the library for each week to how staffing levels and budgetary formulas should be worked out. The rough equivalent for PSOs in the United States are the American Correctional Association standards; however, these only apply to state-run facilities, not those under federal jurisdiction. In my research for the trip I couldn’t find any equivalent to PSO 6710 or the OLSU specifications. Laura Sherbo in Washington State was later kindly able to provide me with a copy of the ACA prison library specifications, which set out in basic terms what is expected of prison libraries, much of which was very similar to the UK equivalent. The ACA also provides accreditation to establishments that meet certain standards, and one of these is that prisoners have access to library services seven days a week. The biggest problem for UK prison librarians is usually one of access: ensuring that prisoners can get to the library and are able to spend long enough there to utilise all of the services provided. Often the reason for this is because library visits are quite labour-intensive, requiring an officer to be present, and prisons may not have enough uniformed staff to escort the prisoners and to stay with them during their visit; in lower security category establishments prisoners are more able to move about unescorted and the library may not need to have an officer present which makes it easier for prisoners to attend. In many of the older, Victorian prisons the library is situated on its own while in many of the newer establishments (Bronzefield included) the library is situated within the Education department, this means that the one officer assigned to the Education department can also look after the library, although this doesn’t always address how cover is provided for the library to open at times outside of the normal regime – as with most public libraries prison libraries have to open at times when workers can access them; at Bronzefield we open on Saturday mornings as well as during the week. Although prison libraries are supposed to mirror services provided in public libraries there is one area in which this is not possible. There are few prison libraries in the UK with internet access for prisoners (it is also not uncommon to find prison librarians without access to a computer), and in the ones that do provide it access is highly limited. Unfortunately this does mean that some Sibylla Parkhill
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prisoners are missing out on acquiring skills that will equip them for work on release, and it may make it harder for them to search and apply for jobs as much of this is now only available on the internet. HMP Bronzefield and Kalyx Services In the early 1990s the Home Office moved towards private-public partnerships for the building and operation of new prisons. Kalyx Services is one of these private companies and has won contracts to build and/or operate a variety of establishments, including an Immigration Removal Centre (Harmondsworth) and the first purpose built prison in the UK to house both men and women (HMP Peterborough). There are now around ten privately operated prisons in England and Wales, HMP Bronzefield opened in 2004. Bronzefield is in south-west London and was designed to operate as a local women’s prison, fulfilling much the same function as HMP Holloway, previously the only local, remand prison for women in the greater London area. As there are fewer female than male prisoners ‘local’ can mean they come from as far away as Portsmouth or Birmingham. The current capacity is for 450 women, but due to the rising prison population there is work being done at present to expand the prison. Our proximity to Heathrow airport means that the foreign national population has fluctuated between 30-40% since Bronzefield opened, much higher than the national average which is around 13%. As a result we have books in 35 different languages in the library. The library at Bronzefield is stand-alone and has no association with the local Public Library Authority. We have a stock of over 6000 books, with videos, DVDs, jigsaw puzzles, audiobooks and language packs also available for loan; newspapers, magazines, PSOs and PSIs, and legal books are available for reference use. Prisoners can borrow 5 items each at a time, as per the OLSU Offender Library Specifications; enhanced prisoners can take two videos as part of that allowance while super-enhanced prisoners can borrow 7 items, including 2 DVDs if they wish. All loans are for two weeks, except for DVDs and videos which are for one. In order to cater for women on the Separation and Care and Mother and Baby Units I take a trolley load of books each week for them to choose their loans from. Prisoners in these areas can also send requests via the internal applications system and through staff. We currently open on a Saturday morning where access is timetabled by residential area and prisoners are escorted up by uniformed staff. We used to open in the evenings but a reduction in regime hours made that unviable. On top of the usual library services, UK prison libraries are there to support the work done throughout the prison by other departments such as Education, Healthcare, and the CARATs (Counselling, Assessment, Referral Advice and Throughcare) and Programmes teams. So we stock a wider range of easy readers, books on addiction and mental health and basic skills educational resources than public libraries. I have also set up mini-libraries tailored to specific needs for the Detox Unit, Family Day visits, and Separation and Care.
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4. Report of visits The biggest and most immediately obvious differences between English and American prisons were that staff did not have to carry keys to move around the prison, and that prisoners worked in areas inside and out of the prison that would have never been considered in England – doing gardening outside the main entrance, cleaning in the governor’s office. Instead, US prisons make more use of controlled unlock doors, which must put more stress on staffing levels but also reduces the security risk that comes with so many people having access to keys. This also had a major impact on the way that prisoners were able to access the libraries; almost none of the librarians and library workers I spoke to had a problem with prisoners accessing the library and in fact seemed rather surprised that it could be an issue. The majority of the libraries had a timetable for access and as prisoners did not require anyone to escort them or unlock doors they were able to come to the library if they wanted to, and spend around an hour there doing legal research, reading, browsing, and using computers. As the prison regime meant that prisoners were unlocked for longer than in the UK most of the prisons I visited had extended opening hours in the evening to allow workers to visit, some closed for part of the week during the morning to allow for this. Another difference in terms of security was that in many of the medium security establishments doors were only locked during roll count – as the cells were ‘dry’ (i.e. they had no bathroom facilities within them) prisoners were free to leave their cells during the night to use the toilet, although they were not allowed to go anywhere else; in the view of prison staff here this would be far too trusting of the prisoners and would put more pressure on staffing levels at night. In the UK all convicted prisoners are required to work, and in this light Education classes are considered to be work so are paid; the average weekly wage for any work is around £10-20 – however, there are not always enough jobs to go around. In most of the prisons I visited in the US Education was not paid work and so different strategies had to be used to encourage prisoners to attend classes; in some cases the better jobs were only available to prisoners who had a High School Diploma or a General Education Diploma (GED), the adult equivalent. The average wage was also much lower (around 30 cents an hour). As there are so few foreign nationals in State prisons the libraries had little need for resources in languages other than English, although there was usually a selection of Spanish titles. Unlike the UK, where Separation and Care Units are not widely used and will normally only have a handful of prisoners residing in them, usually for a period of days, almost all of the prisons I visited had a large number of prisoners in their Segregation Units. In order to access library services all the prisons took requests via written applications to the library for specific material; if the specific material was not available a substitute was found or an inter-library loan item was provided. Sometimes these requests would be returned asking for more information. The loans to the Segregation Units would then be issued using the internal post. Sibylla Parkhill
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While drug addiction and mental health were major problems in all US prisons, self-harm was not mentioned at all by the staff that I met, library or otherwise, and I found this very interesting, although I couldn’t find out if this was due to US prisoners not self-harming, or to US prisons not recognising it as a problem. 4.1 Washington State Washington State has the death penalty, which was one of the reasons that I wanted to visit. I was shown around by Jill Merritt, the library associate for Stafford Creek, Laura Sherbo, the branches manager, and Elizabeth Jahnke, one of the principal librarians for prison libraries. Laura had produced a Policy and Procedure manual to define how services should be provided and exactly what can be expected of the service across the board. The library staff and prisoners often move around from one location to another and so the Policy and Procedure Manual means that it is easier to provide a consistent service, and enables the prisoners to know what they can expect from the library services. Prisoners can borrow up to 15 items at once, each library has a music collection and 1 of the 15 loans can be a CD. Each library is managed by a library associate, an unqualified but experienced library worker, and also has around 4 prisoner library workers who deal with most of the front desk duties, such as circulation, inter-library loans, enquiries etc. The law libraries for all Washington State correctional facilities are not managed by the State library system and do not use the same space or staff as the main library. While some of the stock ordering is done centrally, each associate also has a set amount to spend each year on books, music CDs and magazines and newspapers; the amount is proportional to the size of the prison. In Washington State the law libraries are run separately, by the Department of Corrections and not the State Library system which runs the main libraries. As such the focus for stock is on educational and leisure requirements, rather than on prison or criminal law. In all but Stafford Creek, the paperbacks and hardbacks were shelved separately, and some genres of fiction were shelved together. The facility which holds death row prisoners is Walla Walla and this is in the east of the state, due to time and travel constraints I was unfortunately unable to visit it, however Jill had previously worked at Walla Walla and was able to give me information on how it differed from the other prisons I visited in Washington State. Prisoners on Death Row accessed library services in the same way as prisoners in the Segregation Units and the Intensive Management Units (areas for particularly difficult or dangerous prisoners which aim to work with them to tackle their behaviour); there was no major difference in the services they could access. 4.1.1 Washington Corrections Centre for Women Washington Corrections Centre for Women (WCCW) has a population of around 800 women. There are two distinct sections within it, a medium security area and a minimum security area; the library is in the medium part, along with most of the other facilities, such as the gym, workplaces, healthcare and education. Sibylla Parkhill
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Minimum security prisoners can access the medium security areas, but not viceversa; this arrangement means that both medium and minimum security prisoners can access all the services provided. Like Bronzefield, WCCW has a mother and baby facility and this is in the minimum area. The officer assigned to the Education building (where the library is situated) signed prisoners in and out and keeps track of how many are there at any one time and if there are too many; capacity is based on fire safety assessment and is 20 at a time. The library has a stock of around 15,000 books made up of a mixture of fiction and non-fiction as well as a wide range 4.1.2 Western State Hospital Western State Hospital is a mental health facility and has on its grounds a secure treatment centre for prisoners with mental health issues. At present there are around 1000 patients in the hospital in total. The library for the hospital, and for the centre, is located in the main hospital building and is managed by the library associate Kathleen Benoun, with help from some of the patients. Most of the patients have free access to the library, when they aren’t involved in treatment programmes or lessons, although the patients in the secure facility access the library services in the same way as prisoners on Segregation Units in the prisons do, via the internal mail system. Originally the library was a reading room and provided a copy service to the hospital staff as well as nationally and internationally, although staff cuts and reduced space made this unviable. Now, although hospital staff are able to borrow books the main users are the patients. The stock is mainly non-fiction, with a smaller selection of fiction books as well as videos and some DVDs, music CDs and talking books, and as with all the Washington State facilities, a wide range of magazines. CD players with headphones are available for patients to use in the library and there is a TV room adjacent to the main library also for patient use. As their medication can affect their vision the patients do not often borrow the longer books. Patients can also only borrow ten items at once rather than the 15 at the prisons. In her spare time Kathleen has also set up a museum on the hospital grounds giving the history of the site, the treatments that had been performed there and showing artefacts from throughout the hospital’s existence. The museum is opened on request and Kathleen is happy to show visitors around. 4.1.3 McNeil Island Corrections Centre McNeil Island Corrections Centre is a 20 minute ferry ride from the mainland and is a facility for male medium security offenders. As it takes time to access the prison some staff live on the island, outside the facility, in case of emergencies. There is also a special commitments centre on the island which holds sex offenders who have finished their sentence but are considered too dangerous to be released. These men do not have access to the library in the prison and as the centre is not considered to be a prison no library is provided within it.
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McNeil Island has the capacity to hold around 1,000 prisoners and the prisoners work in all areas, including on the ferry carrying staff and visitors from the mainland. The library has a stock of around 17,000 books as well as the music collection. Earl, the associate at McNeil Island had integrated the easy readers into the general collection although they were still identifiable by a yellow sticker, but he found that the men were more likely to borrow them this way, indicating that they found it embarrassing to be seen borrowing the easy readers than other books. 4.1.4 Washington State Library Washington State Library provides library services for all of the prison libraries within the state (except for those at juvenile establishments) as well as to other state departments, such as the fire department, who pay for the services. The state library is a depository for state records and archives and also holds some archived publications from the Federal and State governments. The collection is made up of daily papers, local papers on microfiche, a small selection of fiction, general interest book classified using Dewey, and a collection of materials focussing on the northwest of America which has its own classification scheme. Events are often held in the library, such as author readings or talks by local residents, usually focussing on aspects of local history. There are also free public access computers with internet access, although access is restricted to one hour at a time. The main reason people visit the library is for local and genealogy research, and the library provides free genealogy searches on request from all over the world, sending results back via email. 4.1.5 Stafford Creek Corrections Centre
Stafford Creek is one of the newest prisons in Washington State and the library was very large, bright and airy. Stafford Creek houses around 2,000 medium security male prisoners, and due to the larger size of the prison the library also has a part-time library associate in addition to the usual full-time associate and the four library prisoner workers. Stafford Creek is quite remote, a 1 ½ hour journey from the State library building in Olympia and so can present quite a problem when staffing cover has to be provided. The library associates at Stafford Creek also deal with the ILL requests from the prison camps in the state, which
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don’t have a library; prisoners at the camps pass their requests to staff who then email Stafford Creek. Access to the library is timetabled by residential area; each area gets one afternoon slot per week and one evening slot per fortnight. Residential areas are colour coded and this is followed through on the prisoners’ ID cards so prisoners’ can be easily identified if they are accessing the library when it’s not their slot. The prison was one of the few I visited which was aiming to gain ACA accreditation. On one of the residential areas the manager had set up a lockable trolley with a selection of donated fiction books. As yet they hadn’t started to lend books out, and so any potential conflict with the services provided by the library had yet to materialise. 4.1.6 Monroe Corrections Centre MCC is a high security facility close to Seattle, and the library is in the same building as the Chapel and law library. On the day that I was visiting the library was closed due to a function being held in the building, but there were obvious differences between it and the other prison libraries I had visited – firstly there was a camera in the library which fed to the officer stationed immediately outside (along with coverage from other cameras within that building), and the officer also had their own mirror to view a blind spot in the camera’s coverage. Unlike the other prison libraries in Washington State Monroe did not have timetabled access. Instead prisoners signed up for a particular time for the library the day before. They had previously tried timetabling access but this resulted in more fights at movement. 4.2 FDC SeaTac
FDC SeaTac was the only Federal facility I visited and is located just outside of Seattle. It was physically the most unusual prison building I visited as it was a high-rise and prisoners were moved around from floor to floor using lifts. SeaTac holds both men and women but has only one of certain departments, such as education, so access to these are divided up. Most of the prisoners are remand, although some convicted prisoners are held there, often to perform duties such as cleaning more sensitive or risky areas (such as the outside of the prison, or the governor’s office); as the prisoners are remand they are not divided up according Sibylla Parkhill
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to a security level. SeaTac also had a very large percentage of foreign nationals – around 45-60%. Unlike the state facilities federal prison staff have to keep their keys on a chain. The facility holds a fluctuating amount of prisoners, usually 900-13,000, and sometimes has to treble up cell occupancy. In each residential wing there were a minimum of 60 prisoners, and each wing was very much self-contained, with their own access to a balcony recreational area for fresh air, gym equipment, catering and shop facilities as well as the usual bathroom and TV facilities. This meant that the prisoners were often eager to leave the wing to use other facilities around the prison, such as the law library or education classes. This was the only facility I visited that didn’t have a library for leisure use, only the mandatory law library. It also had no librarian, which is typical for federal establishments. Instead, the law library was run on a day to day basis by the prisoners, with supervision from Ben Thorpe and Christiane Nielsen, both Education Specialists – officers who had moved across to manage the prison’s Education provision. The longer term workers (over a year) train up new workers in how to use the resources. Tuesdays and Thursdays are reserved for women to use the library and the other days are for men – Ben said they had found that women tended to be less interested in doing legal research. Ben and Christiane had set up book trolleys for all of the residential areas, and these rotated between areas to provide as wide a selection as possible. They carry a selection of popular fiction and general interest books, with some in other languages. Prisoners can only have five books in their possession at one time although this is only checked during cell searches and then returned to the Education department. Hard back books were only allowed to ‘cadre’ units, which is roughly the equivalent of enhanced status, due to the ease with which contraband can be hidden in them. The books for the book cart come mainly from donations. Christiane had also devised a few strategies to provide resources to support prisoners with their studies. One of these is an ILL agreement with a local college and another is a mini-library of resources which she loans out to prisoners. Prisoners who wish to borrow via the ILL scheme must have sufficient funds to cover the cost of any book borrowed. The mini-library is comprised mainly of reference items such as World Book and relevant subject areas such as résumé writing, health, self-help books and educational prospectuses. A bibliography is distributed to prisoners and they can also request books on a specific subject area. Requests are sent via the internal applications system and Christiane then makes a note of who the item has been loaned to. Christiane has also set up a book club and has purchased a number of each book the club has read. While both Ben and Christiane were not qualified librarians or experienced in library work they had both put a lot of work into building up the resources available to prisoners. However, they were both very interested to speak to myself and the other Librarians who accompanied me and it was good to see contacts being set up between the two prison systems. Sibylla Parkhill
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4.3 Washington DC 4.3.1 Library of Congress As I had some spare time while in Washington I set up a visit to the Library of Congress. I was given a tour of the Law Library by Mark Strattner and the Acquisitions and Bibliographic department by Susan Morris. As the largest library in the world it provided a total contrast to the small prison libraries I had been visiting. The library has a number of buildings in central Washington, as well as a long-term storage facility for lesser-used and older items at Fort Meade, a 45 minute drive away. However, as they have such a large, and quickly growing collection space is still very much an issue – and especially space that provides an appropriate environment for keeping books. The law library is the equivalent of the House of Commons and House of Lords libraries in that it is the research arm of Congress who can borrow all items in the collection, including rare ones, for free. It is also open to the general public and it serves the Federal Courts. There are attorneys who work in the library covering non-US areas of law and each is trained in the law of that specific area or country. The law library has great problems in maintaining the collection as they try to stock law reports and similar publications from every country in the world, and geo-political world change (such as wars or country name changes) can disrupt the organisation of the collection and the provision of new stock. With such a vast collection computerisation is still very much an on-going task, with cataloguers going back through the collection as well as cataloguing the new stock. Susan Morris of the Acquisitions and Bibliographic department gave me a tour following a new book’s journey through the library from the point of arrival until it is available for use. The library acquires books through a number of different ways: copyright deposits, Cataloguing in Publication, exchanges, Federal transfers and gifts, as well as purchasing. As the LOC is also home of the Copyright Office of the United States they receive 2 copies of all published items registered in the US. Publishers who make use of the Cataloguing in Publication service also have to provide a copy of the book after publication (having already sent a manuscript for cataloguing), and so the library can end up with multiple copies of a book, which they can then use for exchanges and donations. Through the surplus books programme the library donates a number of books each year to eligible organisations, and they also use the extra copies for exchange for titles they don’t already hold with other libraries around the world. New books follow one of two long paths from reception to shelf, depending on whether they were purchased or were acquired from another method, going through the cataloguing and classification sections and being sent out to various contractors for binding, processing and de-acidification if necessary. 4.3.2 Bureau of Prisons Library The Bureau of Prisons Library is primarily for use by employees of the Bureau, but they also deal with requests from researchers and other federal departments and courts. Many of the users are psychologists from with the Bureau who need Sibylla Parkhill
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information to influence the policy and development of the federal prison system. It is most comparable to the Prison Service College Library which provides a library service to employees of HMPS, and on request to members of the public. Obviously, due to the size of the country they have to tackle different constraints in terms of providing resources and have to find alternatives to in-person services; many of their loans are provided by post and they have developed a number of resources that can be accessed via the Bureau’s intranet. The library has three members of staff: Denise Lomax, the librarian, plus a library technician and a student worker, who only works part of the year due to college commitments. While the library is physically located in the research department it is actually part of the Information, Policy and Public Affairs department and Denise reports to the head of this department yearly on usage and loan statistics and quarterly on any other activities. As the library does not have a separate budget the case has to be made for any expenditure above and beyond the usual spending on databases and journals. As no federal establishments have a librarian of their own Denise doubles up as their librarian and provides advice on library issues to Education staff across the country. The library holds around 6,000 books, 70 print journals, a range of videos (some of which have been loaded onto the BOP intranet) and also a selection of electronic journals and databases (including Lexus, SAGE and Dialog) which users can search themselves (except for Dialog - due to the cost of searching only Denise can perform these searches). Users are allowed to borrow ten items at one time and books can be borrowed for four weeks, videos for two. No fines are given for overdue loans, but no more loans will be issued if a loan is overdue. Due to the fact that the budget is not solely for the use of the library, the user must replace a damaged or lost item rather than provide the cost of that item. 4.4 Maryland In Maryland the management of prison libraries comes within the Department for Education, although this will be changing in the near future when they move to become part of the Department of Public Services. This illustrates how prison libraries are hard to classify and how, within the US, they are much more subject to local politics. Like Washington State, Glennor Shirley, the librarian in charge of prison library services, has devised a Policy and Procedure Manual which details how the service works and aims to create a consistent service between all the prison libraries. Again, there is a copy of the manual in each establishment. Each library is managed by a qualified librarian, with assistance from around four library orderlies (prisoners), and line managed by Glennor at head office. Prisoners have timetabled access to the libraries and they can take out three items at a time. The stock in each library is the same mix of fiction and nonfiction, with easy readers, audio-books and magazines and newspapers available, although no music CDs. Unlike Washington State in Maryland all of the prison libraries incorporate the law library and so the librarian and orderlies also had to provide help with legal queries. To assist with this process a scheme had been set Sibylla Parkhill
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up called LASI (Library Assistant to State Institutions) where the prisoners could write down their query which was then sent to the central prison libraries office and dealt with their before being sent back. If a certain type of query was coming through frequently then a Legal Information Pack (LIPs) would be set up to expedite the process. There are 21 different LIPs which are available in all of the libraries. Some Maryland prisoners were moved out of state to other prisons (often due to gang activity), and the LASI service is still available to them. Prisoners can also order books from other libraries in Maryland via an inter-library loan scheme which is operated by the Enoch Pratt Free Library (the central public library for the state). All of the libraries had a set of four computers which had a variety of databases and programmes installed on them, from touch-typing and driving tests to CV wizards and job directories. Glennor had also devised a virtual internet programme to show prisoners how to use the internet. Many of the libraries were located in the Education department, and I found that the libraries in Maryland had a closer link with the Education departments overall, often being housed in the same building, and sometimes working together more. As this is most likely due to the libraries coming under the Department for Education, what happens after they move to the Department of Public Services would be interesting to see. Glennor manages the budget, which comes from three separate sources: the Inmate Welfare Fund, Federal money (given because some Federal prisoners are housed in State establishments), and the State Education department. However, although there is a mandate that all prisoners have access to the courts (i.e. a law library) there is nothing to ensure a library for other purposes, and this in turn affects how much money is allocated to library spending. Their budget is considerably less than in Washington State where the protection of the Secretary of State ensures a good level of funding, and this shows in the number of books per prisoner in each library. As with Washington State the librarians make their own choices in the selection of new library stock. 4.4.1 Jessup Correctional Institute Jessup Correctional Institute houses up to 1,700 maximum security male prisoners. It was formerly the annexe of a larger prison which is currently closed. Unlike many prisons I saw Jessup had a multitude of cameras in all locations, including the library, although this was apparently because it is a new prison, and not due to its security level. The library holds a stock of 6,000 books, plus a range of magazines and some audiobooks; most of this is on free access, but some are kept behind the counter. In addition to the four computers mentioned above there was also a bank of computers for legal use only, which had databases such as Westlaw installed on them. Each residential area has its own day for library access, so prisoners can spend the whole day at the library if they wish (the library is open 8.30-11 and 12Sibylla Parkhill
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14.30). An officer who is assigned to the library checks all the prisoners in and out and also checks their loans when they leave to ensure that item has been loaned and to that prisoner. Fridays are reserved for legal access only to supplement the usual access times, and prisoners sign up for this on a monthly basis. The library officer also deals with this list and ensures that the right prisoners attend, priority is given to those with court dates coming up, and if a prisoner signs up but doesn’t attend they forfeit their right to attend Friday library for a while. 4.4.2 Maryland Correctional Institute for Women Maryland Correctional Institute for Women holds around 800 women, of all security levels, and also has a Mother and Baby facility. The library at MCIW is situated in the same building as the Education and Case Management departments. Women access it on a timetabled basis, organised by residential area. The librarian goes into the classes on a regular basis to give a talk on the library. The library has a stock of around 8000 books, and holds a larger selection of children’s books but a smaller selection of legal books as they find the same as at SeaTac, that women use the legal information less. There was a real focus on rehabilitation and re-entry to society in the Education Department…. 4.4.3 Patuxent Institute Patuxent Institute is a psychological treatment centre, and prisoners are either allocated by the court or can apply from other establishments once they have been convicted. It holds around 800 of both male and female prisoners and this causes some difficulties in ensuring access for women to the library as – unlike SeaTac which also had the one library for both men and women to use – the men still have classes and programmes in the rooms around the library. This means that the corridor has to be clear of men, and the library has to be closed off and locked while the women are inside. The library is open 2 ½ days a week and Ruth, the librarian, divides her working week between Patuxent and one of the prisons in Baltimore. Patuxent was the only library that said they had problems getting the prisoners into the library, which is mainly due to prisoners taking part in treatment programmes, although as women have to be escorted by a member of staff to and from the prison this also has an impact on often they can access the library. This is why it has shorter opening times than other Maryland establishments; the department had to fight to keep a library there at all as it was being used so infrequently. Men get two days of access, timetabled on an hourly basis, and the women get the remaining half day; they have less time as they often don’t attend and may only be there for one hour at the most. One of the male clerks takes a trolley each week to the segregation unit and picks up requests, although this is only to the male side. The library has a stock of around 4,500 books, and a careers advice centre within it managed by a member of prison, not library, staff and a couple of prisoners. Sibylla Parkhill
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There is also a classroom that can only be accessed through the library; classes take place in there while the library is closed and this has lead to some stock going missing. 4.4.4 Charles H. Hickey Jr School Charles H. Hickey Jr School is a juvenile detention centre for boys. It was previously run by a private company, but the State Department of Juvenile Services has taken it back as part of a plan to make all the juvenile facilities state run by 2012. As all juvenile facilities do not come under the Department of Education Glennor is not responsible for the library services provided within the establishments. A librarian had recently been appointed and she was still in the process of sorting out the library; much of the stock had gone missing and the codes to access the Library Management System couldn’t be found so a stock take was impossible. While the School has the capacity to hold up to 300 boys they currently have only around 80 in residence. This is to allow the regime of the school to build up to a point where it can deal with so many more inmates. As all under 18s in the United States are required to attend high school all under 18s within the school have to attend classes to study for their HSD. Once they have achieved this they can start on other studies; there are no other jobs in the school so education is the only option. Library access is timetabled and fits into the class timetable, so each class attends together and the librarian would structure their time in the library by doing group reading in the first half of the session and then allowing the children to choose their own activities in the second; many chose to play chess or other games or to continue reading. 4.4.5 Enoch Pratt Free Library The Enoch Pratt Free Library fulfils two functions: it is the main library for Baltimore City and it also holds the State Library collections. It provides library services to a local detention centre (separate to the services Glennor’s team provides) and it coordinates all of the ILLs for the state they do deal with prisoners’ requests. They also receive requests from other prisons out of state, usually for genealogy information. The library had a large stock of books and videos as well as a very large archive of materials of local and national interest. Recent renovations had made it possible to go through and save a number of rare and valuable items. All archive material is kept in closed access, but regular exhibitions and displays made them accessible to library users. As with most public libraries these days there were a large number of public access computers, some of which could be booked for a number of hours at a time, and which were all very busy. It was a very interesting library to visit, and as the US and UK are agreed that prison libraries should emulate the service provided in public libraries it was useful to see what services are provided in a busy central library.
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4.4.6 Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped LBPH, as the name suggests, caters for those with vision and physical handicaps and had a number of resources available for loan in Braille and audio formats. They also have facilities to help their members learn and use new technologies that can, for example, translate web pages into audio. Anyone can visit the library but only members can borrow, and they have to be resident in the state and either certified by their doctor or, if they come to join in person, obviously disabled. As many of their members are unable to visit the library most of their loans are issued using the postal service, which is provided free by the state – very useful when a Braille book can run to several large volumes. The library also lends out the machines for users to listen to audio books on (some of the audio books require specific equipment) and they were slowly moving over to digital; as many of their members are older and unused to new technology they were aware that they would still need to retain the older equipment for use along side the new. Only a small part of the library is on open access, this area also holds multisensory exhibitions; the rest of the stock is held in closed access areas underground. There is a small number of staff, some of which are volunteers, and many have the disabilities that the library caters for.
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5. Summary My overriding impression of US prisons was that they weren’t that dissimilar from UK ones, and that the library services were remarkably alike. The main differences were somewhat unexpected and came from the fact that, although library services are in general highly valued in US culture, their existence is much more subject to local politics than they are in the UK. This is what led to the biggest differences between state prison library facilities as local politics influenced the budget available and how library provision fitted into the organisation of State departments. This had an impact on the staffing levels the largest prison I visited (Stafford Creek Correctional Centre) had just 1 ½ staff members for almost 2000 prisoners while Bronzefield has two full time staff members for 450 prisoners. US prison libraries made much more use of prisoner workers; they had more responsibility and there were more of them. However, as we have such a high turn-over of prisoners this strategy may not work as well in UK establishments. The big issue with prison librarians in the UK is ensuring prisoners can access the library, and this was not an issue in any of the prisons I visited; mainly this seemed to be because the physical location of the library and the prison regime made it easier for prisoners to get there. The fact that keys were not necessary to move around the prisons also helped, as prisoners did not need an officer to escort them to the library and back. As with the UK, US prison libraries’ services are influenced by the physical makeup of the prison itself, such as how people move around the prison and actually get to the library. However, US prison libraries also have to contend with local politics and the policies of State officials who may or may not support them. How each state responded to the constraints of those policies differed, but cuts had to be made in some way, and this was often in staffing levels. For the most part, in the UK the prisons are run by central government and the libraries by local government. In the US each state is responsible for both the state prisons and the library services, and this means that it is easier to provide a consistent library service from prison to prison as both prison and library policies can be negotiated and decided at a central level. Although this is only to a certain extent, as some prisons come outside that remit, e.g. detention centres, or don’t have libraries, e.g. boot camps. This consistency has some great benefits for the prisoners; they know what they can expect from their service, and will perhaps ask and expect more. It was interesting to see that in the only example that I visited of a prison run by a central government agency (FDC SeaTac) there was no leisure library and no professional librarian on site. As I stated above, the ACA library specifications are not as detailed as the UK versions and this led me to a number of conclusions: in order to accommodate the different arrangements in each state they need to be more flexible; PLAs are the standard providers here and due to the lesser number of prisons within the UK they may have only one prison within their area so may need more guidance in how to provide an appropriate and adequate service. An offshoot of this is that Sibylla Parkhill
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prison librarians in the UK are more likely to be working in isolation and so will also need more guidance. Also, prisoners in the UK are more likely to be moved around the country rather than within the state so a consistent service is needed nationwide. In the UK there is a bigger focus on prisoners’ welfare, while in the US the onus is on the prisoner to help themselves. This is compounded by the physical constraints of the prison: US prisoners have more freedom to move around the prison as they wish and are locked up for less time, while UK prisoners face more time behind their doors and have to rely on staff members to get from one place to another – this must inevitably have an impact on how much power a prisoner feels they have over their life (which may offer some insight into why levels of self-harm are so high in the UK). The combination of these two approaches, along with the sentencing practices in each country, have an interesting effect. While UK prisoners are given more help they get shorter sentences and so have less time to make use of that help, they also have less opportunity to take control of their lives as so much can be done for them, but they do get more time out of prison and if there are adequate services for them outside they may be less likely to return. Conversely, US prisoners are given less help and so are more likely to help themselves, they receive longer sentences which makes that type of change easier, but this gives them less time out of prison to put it into practice. The increased feeling of power given to US prisoners by their freedom to move when and where they choose may then encourage them to take more control over their lives in other areas, however, the lower level of concern over prisoners’ welfare also makes it easier for vulnerable prisoners to fall through the cracks. Both prison systems and the library services provided within them could benefit from learning about each other’s experiences.
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Appendices Appendix A
Glossary of terms and acronyms
ACA
American Correctional Association
ALA
American Library Association
BOP
Bureau of Prisons, the Federal body responsible for prisons
CC
Correctional Centre, a US state run prison
CILIP
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
GED
General Education Diploma
Detention Centre
In UK an Immigration Removal Centre, in US a prison that caters for pre-trial prisoners and those sentenced to less than 18 months – see also jail
ESU
English Speaking Union
FDC
Federal Detention Centre – one type of Federal prison
HMP
Her Majesty’s Prison
HMPS
Her Majesty’s Prison Service
HSD
High School Diploma
IEPS
Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme. An England and Wales scheme for prisoners to encourage good behaviour: all prisoners enter prison as on standard level, prisoners who behave well and get no warnings can become enhanced, entitling them to extra privileges such as longer visits or more spending money. A certain amount of warnings will result in the prisoner going down to Basic when they lose certain privileges.
IMU
Intensive Management Unit, similar to the UK Separation and Care Units, which look after particularly difficult or dangerous prisoners.
Jail
In the US this refers to an establishment for remand (unconvicted) prisoners - see also Detention Centre
LASI
Library Assistant to State Institutions
LOC
Library of Congress
LIPs
Legal Information Packs
Ministry of Justice
Formed from parts of the Home Office in 2007, primarily deals with criminal justice and offender management
MCIW
Maryland Correctional Institute for Women
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NHS
National Health Service, provides health services to all in the UK, including within prisons
NOMS
National Offender Management Service, the part of the Ministry of Justice that oversees all prisons and prisoners in England and Wales.
OLASS
Offender Learning and Skills Service (UK)
OLSU
Offender Learning and Skills Unit (UK)
PI
Patuxent Institute
PLA
Public Library Authority (UK), the body responsible for local public libraries, part of local government.
Re-entry
The US term for pre-release
PSI
Prison Service Instruction, a temporary adjustment to a PSO
PSO
Prison Service Order, legislation from the Ministry of Justice (and formerly the Home Office) setting out the requirements of a prison; how various aspects should be managed.
RS
Restricted Status, the term used for women prisoners in the UK who would be category A if in the male establishment
SCU
Separation and Care Unit, UK name for Segregation
UK
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
US
United States of America
WCCW
Washington Correctional Centre for Women
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Appendix B
Original application
Dear Mrs Andrews, ESU Travelling Librarian Award 2008 I wish to apply for the above Award and enclose my CV together with the following notes on my current position. The subject of my study trip would be the role of libraries in the US penal system. I am the prison librarian at HMP Bronzefield and have been here for almost three years. I was involved in the development of the library from start-up. It was my first job after I qualified as a librarian and it is one that I thoroughly enjoy. Bronzefield is a contracted prison accommodating remand and convicted women prisoners and is run by Kalyx Services for the Home Office. Unlike most prisons, the library here is not part of the Public Library Authority and I am employed directly by the company. This is a situation which has its positives as well as negatives; while I am relatively free to run the library in my own way, I don't have the back-up and expertise of other librarians. I have, however, forged many links with other prison librarians through the Prison Libraries Group of CILIP. I think my situation gives me a different perspective on how libraries fit into the wider prison establishment and how they compare to libraries in the world outside; it also gives me a good start in investigating United States prisons as many of their prisons are privately run. I see the role of the library at Bronzefield as being much more than a lender of books. It is a centre for communication and largely through my own initiative, I have: Set up and facilitated Shannon Trust’s Toe by Toe scheme through which prisoners teach other prisoners to read. Established a dedicated library on the detox wing for staff and prisoners. Played a role in the pre-release scheme by promoting the use of libraries in the community. Worked on gender-specific issues for staff and prisoners: (1) Last year, I organised workshops and an exhibition to raise awareness on issues surrounding prostitution in association with the Women’s Library of London Metropolitan University. (2) Currently, I am involved in the organisation of a similar event on the subject of domestic violence. Managed the Send a Story scheme where women can record stories for their children. Organised a mobile library for Family Day visits to encourage the women to read with and to their children. The prospect of visiting prison libraries in the United States is one that I find very exciting. The main benefit for me would be to see my work in the UK within a wider context and give me the opportunity to exchange ideas in a country where: Libraries seem to be more highly valued. (Abigail Luthmann [Library Review vol. 56 no. 9] suggests this is because service industries are more highly regarded in the United States. It would be interesting to see if American librarians agree with her assessment.) There is a very different penal policy, illustrated not least by the existence of the death penalty in some States. As our focus in the UK is primarily towards the rehabilitation of
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offenders and much of my work as a librarian is aimed at women's eventual release, dealing with prisoners on death row must inevitably change the focus of library provision. Federal and State penal systems exist side-by- side as opposed to the UK where we have one system for England and Wales and separate systems for Scotland and Northern Ireland; how this influences the provision of library services, even just in terms of what body or agency is responsible, is something I would love to discover. With the introduction of indeterminate sentences, and the highly publicised rise in prison population, UK criminal policy seems to have taken a step towards that of the United States where a "three strikes" rule applies and the prison population is one of the highest in the world. In a recent issue of ‘Inside Time’ (the prison industry newspaper) a UK government minister was reported as supporting the use of microchips to keep track of prisoners – a strategy that is already in use in US jails to track gang members. How this move towards a US-style prisons policy is likely to affect the services within prisons – and especially libraries – is something I would like to see and hear about first hand. There are many benefits I would gain from a study of prison libraries in the United States; sharing good practice and creating wider links within the worlds of library and information provision are just two. There is no doubt that my own personal and professional development will benefit from the experience and will help towards my Chartership studies. The types of establishment I would like to visit are state and federal prisons that cater for a variety of prisoners and institutions, such as immigration centres and public libraries, which work with or along side prisons to provide library services within a custodial setting and to ex-offenders in the community. I hope I have given you enough information to enable you to consider my application. I would be pleased to supply you with any further details in support should you require them and look forward to hearing from you.
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Appendix C
Expenditure
Flights Travel Accommodation
International £451 Domestic £231 Luggage costs £8.99 Taxis £78 Buses £7 Washington State £316.07 Washington DC £334 Baltimore £589.16
Food & drink, inc. entertaining Miscellaneous, inc. presents for hosts and insurance Total
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£690.99 £85 £1239.23 £519.30
Insurance £44.62 Presents £36.91 Other £17.56 £99.09 £2633.61
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