MIDDLESEX COUNTY PRISON COORDINATING COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER

MCPCC met on November 12, 2002 in Newtonville. Tom Crowther, Beverly Wilkins, Elizabeth Woodbridge and Marjorie Moerschner were present. Our guest speaker was John Regan.

John is the librarian at Billerica, as well as a correction officer. He worked with Lela Boykins in the library for a time but Lela is now a supervisor in a different part of the facility.

Billerica is no longer responsible for the library at the Cambridge Jail.

Ground has been broken for a new building at Billerica which will be attached to the main building. It will include a new and larger library, a new kitchen and dining room and some beds. The old kitchen and dining room will become the Training Center.

The present library is small, with just enough tables and chairs to seat about 15 people comfortably, and it gets crowded quickly. 25 to 30 men come in regularly every day, many others come in on a more casual schedule. Each inmate gets a library card and can take books back to his cell.

The library is open for the general population in the main building, that's about 400 men, from 8:15-10:45 AM and 1:15-3:15 PM daily; at lunchtime, for the jail men on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; and for the men in protective custody, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The library has a good legal collection, either in print or on computer. Materials on family law and on tax law are the most in demand.

There are lots of newspapers, including local papers, in several languages, and lots of magazines in both Spanish and English, including Spanish versions of popular magazines like Reader's Digest and People.

The library includes reference books, encyc1opedias, self help books, In fiction, Mafia books are the most popular, followed by westerns and science fiction. Stephen King's books are extremely popular. The library has some classics, and those get read too.

The library buys new books twice a year, including Spanish translations of best sellers, A disposal company provides abandoned books, and a local man has become a one-person friend of the library, bringing over a carload of books from time to time. Since the books the inmates get to take back to their cells are paperbacks, they don't last too long, and the library's need of fresh supplies is inexhaustible.

John doesn't exert censorship, but there are just a few categories and authors he won't buy or accept- those which glorify violence against women, for example.

He expects reasonable quiet in the library. For some reason, quiet seems to be particularly difficult for the jail men to achieve. There are electric typewriters available for use in the library and men can play chess or quiet games there if they wish.

John helps the GED teacher administer the GED exams twice a year. The GED exam has five sections, one of which requires the writing of an essay. This is something many inmates struggle with, and which causes many to fail the English portion of the exam. The next GED classes which will be starting up soon will do some intensive work on raising essay writing skills.

John and the GED teacher, John Ellis, will attend a library workshop at the Newbury Public Library next week.

Beverly suggested that she write to libraries in the Billerica area to see if they would be willing to give their deaccessioned books to the prison.

Beverly brought in a newspaper article from the Quincy Patriot-Ledger, reporting on a major court victory won by inmates at Cedar Junction. They must now have a hearing before being put in solitary confinement for non-disciplinary reasons. This ruling could have important implications for prison reform.

Tom reported that his church group had in fact not yet received final approval for Bible study at the prison.

MCPCC voted to give $100, towards Christmas presents for children of prisoners at Billerica.

Many thanks to John Regan for coming out on a bad night to speak to us. We hope he will come back and tell us about the new library when it is in place!

Our speaker in February will be Lee Gartenburg.

Please note that we are switching the time of our meeting from the first Tuesday of the month (usually!) to the second Wednesday.

NEXT MEETING: DECEMBER 11, 2002 at 7 PM

CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC, 218 WALNUT STREET, NEWTONVILLE