The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- A Virginia inmate studying for his GED asked for a dictionary, explaining that "there's a lot of words I just don't know." A criminal serving his 18th year wanted Christian fiction and Stephen King books. And a 61-year-old woman behind bars requested a how-to book on crocheting and a book of Bible commentary.
The three inmates are among thousands who have received books from the Quest Institute, a Charlottesville, Va.-based nonprofit group that has filled such requests for two decades.
But the group's popular Books Behind Bars program might have become a victim of its success.
Virginia prison officials banned the program last month, saying that the security risks are too great and that it creates too much work for busy corrections officers.
The sudden halt has prompted protests from prisoner advocates who say Books Behind Bars -- which has put as many as a million books in cells statewide -- is a relatively low-cost way to help inmates who want to learn.
"All these people would be sitting in their cells doing nothing," said Kay Allison, 78, the program's director and owner of Quest Bookshop in downtown Charlottesville. Officials, she said, "are not looking long term."
Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Corrections Department, said the decision was made after a banned item or items made their way into prison in books provided by Quest. He would not provide details, saying it is a security issue. But he said officials worry that someone trying to smuggle an item to an inmate could use Books Behind Bars to do it.
"Because Quest sent books directly to offenders and utilized volunteers to send these
