January 10, 2024
As Illinois Officials Push Back Against Book Bans, Some Advocates Wonder About Actual Impact on Prison Libraries
Blair Paddock, WTTW Chicago
Illinois’ so-called ban on book bans has gone into effect, but it’s also left those involved in prison education programs curious as to how exactly it’ll impact facility libraries.
The week-old law requires libraries to follow the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights in order to be eligible for state funding. That declaration indicates that materials shouldn’t be “proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
The law comes in response to a rising number of book challenges across the country at schools and public libraries.
The Illinois secretary of state’s office, which oversees a number of library grant programs, said the new law does apply to prison libraries as they are eligible for grants. Correctional facilities will retain the ability to determine which items are to be added to their library collections and may choose not to include books that are deemed explicitly instructional to creating a weapon or poison, or other activities that cause physical harm, the office added.
Read more by following this link.
February 24, 2023
Reading Between the Lines Announces New Executive Director
The Board of Directors of Reading Between the Lines is thrilled to announce its appointment of Agustin M. Torres to serve as Executive Director. Torres, an experienced Chicago-area social justice reform advocate, succeeds Joan Shapiro, the organization’s founder and executive director since its inception in 2017. Reading Between the Lines is a non-profit organization that engages incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated adults in discussions of literature to develop the critical thinking skills needed for successful reentry into society. Read More here.
April 14, 2022
Board Chair Ken Berry and Executive Director Joan Shapiro interviewed on WVON's "Morning in America" with Rufus Williams
April 27, 2022
Webinar - Unlocking Minds. Unlocking Possibilities.
Chicago Sun-Times Commentary - May 2022
Literature discussion gives voice to the formerly incarcerated
By Laura Washington
In Reading Between the Lines group sessions, participants read and dissect great literature — poems, essays, speeches and short stories — and share their reflections and ideas.
The tough-on-crime mentality dominating today’s politics is an alarming backlash against the criminal justice and prison reform movement. It’s now fashionable for politicians to proclaim “just lock ’em up and bury the key.”
Yet many studies show incarceration is costly and ineffective. Prison hardens the criminal, and most will return to society with few skills and no hope, and succumb to the ills that sent them away — poverty, violence, isolation.
“People need to understand that the vast majority of the prison population will be released at some point,” says Ken Berry, a corporate social responsibility and pro bono specialist at the Winston & Strawn law firm.