Saxapahaw program gets Burlington help to send books to Georgia inmates

A row of books at Persnickety Books at Burlington. Persnickety is a partner with the inmate book program.

In regards to getting books into the hands of the incarcerated, Georgia's prison population is among the most underserved. The folks behind the Saxapahaw Prison Books Program are hoping to change that. 

"We mail books to prisoners," said volunteer Moira Marquis. 

Although based in Saxapahaw, the program largely serves Georgia's incarcerated population. Marquis explains that they focus their attention on Georgia because of a lack of organizations providing them this service.

More:New North Carolina social studies standards to include minority perspectives

Marquis said other states, including North Carolina, have a number of organizations that get books into the hands of their respective inmates.

"There are four other books-to-prison programs in North Carolina, but Georgia doesn't have any books-to-prisoners programs," she said.

To fix this problem, Marquis and others formed the Saxapahaw Prison Books Program. The way it works, inmates send letters asking for a book and the books program provides said book to said prisoner. 

In the year since the group started operation, they discovered that providing literature for inmates is as fraught as it is bureaucratic. 

"Georgia has a system that's called a prior approval system," Marquis said. "Whenever somebody asks us to send books, we need to mail them back the exact title we are going to mail them and then we need to get prison authorities to fill out a form that grants them permission to receive those specific titles."

Once prison authorities grant permission for an inmate to receive a book, volunteers only have a 30-day window to mail the title to the prisoner. This rule makes it difficult for organizations that operate nationally to get books to the incarcerated in Georgia. 

"They have to mail that form to us and we have to fill it out and send the book within that timeframe," Marquis said. "The national programs, they get so many letters and they don't have enough books, money or volunteers, so sometimes they can't meet the prior approval."

Prior approval is common throughout the national prison system. 

"I think it's very strange that prisons are so suspicious of reading materials, that it is perceived as a threat," Marquis said. "It is really antithetical to the stated aims of incarceration, which is rehabilitation. It doesn't give me a lot of confidence that they actually don't want people to go back to jail because recidivism rates are highly tied to literacy and your ability to get a job. It's an uphill battle, always."  

Marquis said navigating the red tape can get difficult. Luckily they do have community help.  

"Fortunately, Persnickety Books in Burlington is an amazing partner," Marquis said. "We can basically take a lot of of the books on the shelf there, which is incredible to have that resource."

Persnickety Books owner Ian Baltutis said the Saxapahaw Books program is a god-send. 

"We got involved after we had already kind of re-invented the store," Baltutis said. "When we bought the store in 2018 we wanted to expand its mission and scope. We made it the mission of our store to help them."

Marquis added that the best way for individuals to donate books to the program is to simply donate them to Persnickity Books at 347 S. Main St. 

There is a significant need for dictionaries, according to Marquis. African American history books and textbooks on languages are also popular. 

"People have a variety of tastes," Marquis said. "Some people want spiritual stuff, fiction or history. Some people want practical skills and ways to transition out of prison. We try to meet their requests as closely as we can." 

