THE WAY WE WORK NOW

I Don’t Want Incarcerated People to Feel Cut Off From the World

Librarian networks are trying to get books in the hands of people locked away in prisons and jails

Photo illustration; source: Paul Bersebach/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images

The Way We Work Now is a series chronicling how people’s lives and careers have fundamentally changed because of the pandemic.

Mia Bruner is a 29-year-old librarian and founder of the Prison Library Support Network (PLSN). She spoke with Mai Tran about the difficulties of providing resources to incarcerated people during a pandemic.

Prison Library Support Network was founded in 2016, after Donald Trump was elected. I was a student and library clerk at the Pratt Institute, and I quickly found others who were interested in using our skills and institutional assets to support prison abolition movements and share resources with incarcerated people.

The heart of library services in prisons and jails is pushing a cart around and handing people books. In March, the library services were shut out, and they haven’t been let back in. Some librarians are mailing out books to people who requested them, but those might get sent back. I’ve heard there are all sorts of weird restrictions going on right now. Across the board, facilities aren’t doing anything…