It is hard to fathom how they got here but the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation is charging inmates to read!
As part of their contract with a private company inmates are provided “free” tablets in which they can access Project Gutenberg, an emporium of free, public domain texts.
Well, seems like free ain’t free.
From the Appalachian Prison Book Project:
The per-minute charge will bring in far more profit than an e-book vendor who charges a set price for downloads, as the cost to read a book far exceeds the cost to purchase one. And that cost will be especially unfair to new readers and people with dyslexia. The paperback version of 1984 is about 330 pages. It will take a person who is able to read 30 pages per hour about 11 hours to read the novel. At the discounted $0.03/minute usage fee, 11 hours of reading a free book will cost a person about $19.80—and this is if you don’t stop to think or re-read.
The prison system receives a 5% commission on the revenue from this program.
Oh, and the average wage for a WV prisoner is 30 cents an hour.
Of course, there are layers of censorship too! how-to guides (carpentry, starting a business, repairing small engines, etc.), contemporary fiction, popular mysteries and sci-fi, African American literature, Native studies, recent autobiographies—will not be available.
Photo above Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
funinnewyork on February 18th, 2020 at 18:21 UTC »
In a prison in Brazil, inmates get 4 days off of their sentences. They also have to write a brief of the book they read. Only certain books, including international and Brazilian classics (and children’s books if they are learning to read) qualify, and very violent books are banned. They cannot binge read to get out of prison too early; but they can make up to 12 books a year count, enabling them to take 48 days off of their sentences each year. I guess West Virginia needs to learn something, they might start by reading:
https://www.lawstudies.com/news/A-Novel-Approach-to-Reducing-Prison-Sentences-in-Brazil/-1834/
lowkey_toxtricity on February 18th, 2020 at 17:31 UTC »
this is really messed up, ive heard of prisons entirely getting rid of analog books and using tablets instead. even turning down literature donations. in my opinion, there's no reason to deprive somebody of a completely benign hobby; inmates deserve to have books to read for free if they so desire. especially because prison labor pays very, very little.
edit: i feel like i should add this here list of book donation projects
cloroxbb on February 18th, 2020 at 17:26 UTC »
Jeez, they can't read actual books anymore? They are forced to rent a shitty tablet and then pay a crapload of money to actually read the damn thing.