ABOUT WPBP

Since 1994, Women’s Prison Book Project (WPBP) has provided women, trans, and gender expansive people in prison with free reading materials on many topics including education (dictionaries, GED books, etc.), health, fiction, law, self-help, and crafts. The books are individually selected for each person based on their requests, which come through handwritten letters.

We are an all-volunteer, grassroots organization that seeks to build connections with those behind prison walls and to educate those on the outside about the realities of the prison system. Acting in solidarity, we work to provide incarcerated people with access to resources and information. We love books, and we believe in their transformational power. Whether a book is educational, empowering, or escapist, we think everyone should have access.

Each week, we prepare and mail approximately 140 packages of books. To get involved, email womensprisonbookproject@gmail.com to join our volunteer sign-up list, donate funds to help with postage and other costs, or donate books.

WHO WE SERVE

Of the approximately 2 million people confined in U.S. prisons and jails, more than 180,000 are women. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and classism are often embedded within systems of incarceration, and the resources available to people in prison are often limited. WPBP is a place where women, trans, and nonbinary people in prison can obtain information that may otherwise be unavailable to them.

Of women who are incarcerated:

• More than half were convicted of nonviolent crimes
• Many who were convicted of violent crimes were defending themselves or their children from abuse
• More than half are survivors of domestic violence or other sexual or physical abuse
• More than half were unemployed in the month before their arrest
• One-quarter experienced homelessness during the year before their arrest
• More than half are women of color
• One-third are LGBTQ+
• 58% are parents of minor children

You can learn more about the unique challenges facing women who are incarcerated here.

Due to transphobia and racism in our criminal legal system, it’s estimated that nearly one in six transgender people in the U.S.—and half of Black transgender people—have been incarcerated in their lifetime. Data on trans and nonbinary people in prison (and outside of prison) is scarce. You can read more about the experiences of trans people in prison in the resources below:

• Lambda Legal – Transgender Incarcerated People in Crisis
• Vera Institute of Justice – Advancing Transgender Justice
• Prison Policy Initiative – What the Survey of Prison Inmates tells us about trans people in state prison
• Movement Advancement Project – Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails Transgender People
  

HOW WPBP WORKS

1. Women, trans, and nonbinary people in prison across the country hear about WPBP, often through word of mouth. They write us a letter and tell us what kind of books they want. 
2. A volunteer at WPBP reads the letter and selects 3 books from our collection for them. 
3. A second volunteer packages up the books to be mailed. 
4. The package is dropped off at the post office. 
5. The books arrive to the person who requested them! 

MAILING RESTRICTIONS

People in prison face restrictive rules that control all aspects of their lives, including letters and packages. Some prisons contract with private for-profit companies that scan incoming mail, deliver a poor-quality photocopy, and destroy the original—even drawings and photos. This takes away another level of connection between people in prison and their loved ones. 

Prison officials impose many restrictions on our packages as well. We maintain a detailed list of restrictions and bans for each prison. A sampling: 

• All Washington state prisons ban Trans Bodies, Trans Selves, a health book. 
• Greenwood, SC (and many others) ban all used books. 
• Dayton, TX bans all queer material. 
• Troy, VA (and many others) ban all books with stickers, even if they’re from the library or bookstore. 

Your support is critical to get reading material and information into the hands of the people living under these restrictive rules.

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