The Lackawanna County Prison Board took a major step on Wednesday, Sept. 18 toward resolving a long-standing issue regarding inmates’ access to books and other published material.
In a unanimous vote, the board authorized the use of OverDrive, a digital product employed by the state prison system and other prisons, to provide all inmates with access to works offered by more than 5,000 publishers. Inmates will have free access to the materials on digital tablets.
The one-year contract will cost $21,000, and is renewable afterward for $16,000 a year, according to warden Tim Betti. Money will come from the “canteen” account at the prison, which is funded by the proceeds of the commissary where inmates purchase personal items and consumer goods. As of July 31, according to county Controller Gary DiBileo, that account had more than $449,000, and a related investment account contained more than $923,000. The canteen fund must be used for inmates’ benefit, including educational opportunities.
Inmate advocates long have called on the prison board to expand access to printed materials and to eliminate charges that were assessed for use of the tablets after a certain amount of time. They also have called on the prison board to allow physical books in the prison, which have been precluded for several years because of the potential for books to be used to transport contraband or be used as weapons.
Lackawanna County Judge James Gibbons noted that the new digital access does not preclude the establishment of a physical library in the prison.
Such a library is possible because the board and the county Court of Common Pleas recently agreed to return four prison classrooms to that use. Those rooms were converted into digital courtrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the lack of classroom space has precluded classes that were once routine at the prison, including GED preparation, parenting skills and more.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Betti said it’s possible to use some of that classroom space for a library of paperback books.
In a related matter, the board was receptive to an offer by the Lackawanna County Literacy Committee to conduct literacy assessments of inmates, including for conditions such as dyslexia.
