In a recent post on CILIP by ex-prisoner Jonathan Robinson, the prison library gets some credit where credit is due. Being a part of the “Special Library” contingency, prison libraries are often the forgotten library in the forgotten type of libraries. But Mr. Robinson is able to give them a small amount of recognition in his post.

“Prison librarians were put on this earth to rehabilitate their customers,” he says. They have customers who may belong there but crave and need the services and materials that prison libraries can only offer. “Inhabitants of prisons… find the library the one place that vaguely resembles life on the outside.”

In the CMLE region, we have two prison libraries. The Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud which is staffed by Teri Hams, and the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Rush City which is staffed by Jonathan Chapman. We applaud them and their work to make a difference in the lives of prisoners, their families, and the community.

Read the full post now and learn more about prison libraries.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/pa2wv2g, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0