Books Behind Bars is a short documentary film that follows the development and growth of the library, its programs, and the people inside the only multi-level women’s prison facility in Western Canada.

Over the past few years, the Subcommittee has grown from a group of four librarians to a group of over twenty active volunteers, who organize many projects, such as books clubs, book drives, and borrowing projects.  Among these is the Storybook Project, where the volunteers record women reading to their children, and send the recordings, along with the books, to their children.”

A panel discussion will follow the presentation.  This event is being held as a fundraiser to support the on-going library projects at the prison and to purchase materials for the prison library – anyone can attend for free but the suggested donation is $10 or whatever you can afford. Other donations will also be gratefully accepted.

The Federal Government is considering a bill that would bring in mandatory minimum sentences for some crimes. That would mean more people in Canada’s prisons. And according to the Correctional Investigator of Canada, that’s a big problem … especially for women.

You can listen to the podcast of the interview with “Rachel” a woman on parole who speaks very frankly about her experiences in Grand Valley Prison in Ontario, as well as an interview with Howard Sapers the Ombudsman for Corrections Canada.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

http://www.senatorgrantmitchell.ca/speeches/12600.aspx

For those of you into quantifiable data, the BBC article also refers to this report on the “collateral costs” of increasing incarceration levels in the U.S.

And remember that the post with the list is set to private so you need to be logged in as an administrator to see it. Contact Jocelyn to hook you up with the all-powerful admin status!

Thanks!

The minutes of the meeting are here: 25_10-2010 Minutes

Please be aware of all ACTION items in the minutes (they are highlighted in red) – also, there are a few volunteer opportunities to be aware of (also highlighted in red):

1. Volunteering for Storybook project
2. Volunteering with bookclub(s)
3. Volunteering with the EPL book borrowing project
4. Volunteering on the fundraising committee to put on a art show/fundraiser at Latitude 53 in the new year

Thanks to everyone who attended and to all those who submitted reports/regrets!

The updated list contains titles that are presently circulating at EIFW through the EPL borrowing project; however, Cathee flagged these items as high demand and added them to the donations list. A number of title requests from the previous wishlist were filled through the EPL borrowing project and are no longer in demand (and therefore no longer on the list).

The list also contains Books on CD, which up until recently, were not accepted in EIFW donations. Apparently, the EIFW administration have decided to allow this material to circulate. The rules of relaxed now that Cathee has been given permission to start a CD borrowing project using reclaimed inmate CDs.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the latest list.

Thanks!
Masha