Resources: Books, Magazines, and Publishers

PARC corresponds with and mails a directory of these resources to prisoners, their friends and family members. We are often the first point of contact for people to connect with prisoners' rights organizations, community organizations, prison literature and arts projects, family and visiting resources, health care and legal resources, parole and pre-release resources, and the prison abolition movement.

Download a PDF copy of the 2023 edition linked here.

Resource Category
Alabama Books to Prisons Project

Run through the Burdock Book Collective, this program fulfills book requests and manages a penpal program for people incarcerated in Alabama prisons. LGBTQA friendly: "As queers and allies ourselves, we aim to provide a space for personal expression and communication free from homophobia and transphobia."


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Anarchist Black Cross Los Angeles

The Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) is on the frontline in supporting those imprisoned for struggling for freedom and liberty with a focus on the overall support and defense of political prisoners and prisoners of war. Write for information on political prisoners and for addresses of other chapters in Bakersfield CA, Inland Empire CA, Orange County, Lancaster PA, Philadelphia PA, and New York City.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Newsletters and Magazines
Appalachian Prison Book Project

The Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP) sends free books and provides educational opportunities to people incarcerated in the Appalachian region. We serve six states: Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. You can request by topic area or title, and we will do our best to find a good book for you.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Asheville Prison Books

Sends free reading material to folks incarcerated in North Carolina and South Carolina, including county jails, detention centers, state prisons, and federal facilities.  They do not have a catalogue, but try to match requests to books as best they can. Serves people in North Carolina and South Carolina only.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Athens Books to Prisoners

Athens Books to Prisoners is a volunteer-run organization that sends free books to prisoners in Ohio only.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Big House Books

A volunteer-run nonprofit sending books to inmates in Mississippi correctional facilities since 2015. Big House Books doesn’t judge a book by its cover. We believe in literacy for all – including those in our correctional facilities. Mississippi only.


 


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Books Behind Bars - New Jersey

A grassroots, volunteer-run prison abolition project that provides free books upon request to people incarcerated in New Jersey prisons. Please include your name, ID number, facility name, address, and the kind of books you want. Since all of our books are donated, we can't guarantee exact titles (though we do our best). New Jersey only.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Books Behind Bars - Virginia

Serves people incarcerated in Virginia only.  Write with requests for up to three books per month.  They will do their best to fulfill all requests, but cannot guarantee specific title availability. 


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Books Through Bars

Free books across the Eastern Seaboard. Prisoners may request by topic (not exact title or author), and provide several areas of interest if possible. Sends to DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA & VA only.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Books to Prisoners (Seattle)

Volunteer run, donation-based organization providing free reading materials to incarcerated individuals.  Request by subject or genre. Does not ship to prisons that require all books sent be new.  Write directly to request (does not accept requests by email or phone). Supported by partners Portland Books to Prisoners, Boots to Prisoners Olympia, and Books to Prisoners Spokane.  Serves people nationwide. Long turn-around times mean BTP has difficulties serving people in short-term facilities.


 


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Books to Prisons Alabama

Free book project covering Alabama and Texas. Write with general requests.


 


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
DC Books to Prisoners

Request reading material by mail. lease request by prioritized subject and not specific book title (we rely on donations), and list prison restrictions if known. DC Books to Prisons responds to state and federal prisoners in AK, AL, AR, CA, CO, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NM, NV, OH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WV, and WY as well as federal prisoners (only) in AZ and requests from DC residents in federal prisons in all states. Please wait 5 months between requests.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
East Bay Prisoner Support

Formed in 2007 as a prison abolitionist, anti-authoritarian collective. Write to receive a catalog of anarchist, decolonial, queer liberation, anti-capitalist, black, brown and indigenous-oriented literature (zines), sent free to prisoners in any state. También enviamos literatura gratuita en español.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers
Edward R. Hamilton Books

Vendor of overstock and bargain books, some hardbound and others paperbound (type of binding listed in catalogs). Sends out FREE book catalogs, organized by the following subject areas: Arts & Education; Fiction; Healthy Living; History; Home & Garden; Biography; Cookbooks; Military History; Craft/Needlecrafts; Science & Nature; New Arrivals; and Bargain Books. Serves people nationally.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Vendors and Publishers
Forbidden Books Library, LLC

Publishes and distributes "The Texas Write Writer's Survival Guides" including THE TEXAS CITEBOOK which contains 1,400+ Texas caselaws on 100 legal topics and has a foreword by the National Lawyers Guild. To receive an order form and more info send SASE.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Vendors and Publishers
Freebird Publishers

Offers prisoner titles such as Cell Chef Cookbook, Life With A Record, Start Thinking Outside Prison, Post-Conviction Relief series, Habeas Corpus Manual, and many books, guides, photos, and a wide variety of gifts, all made in the USA. Send a pre-addressed stamped envelope for their packet of color brochures. To see more best to order their 88-page color catalog send $5 and add $5 more for shipping with tracking. Produces Inmate Shopper (current issues always available), which is America's largest book of resources for inmate services plus many other sections of reading and entertainment. PARC recommends the Inmate Shopper because it reviews and rates many businesses that service inmates. Order online, by phone, by text, email or mail by sending a payment for $26.99 (including shipping & tracking) to the address listed. Accepts all facility checks, money orders, credit/debit cards, Venmo at @freebirdpublishers, Cash App at $freebirdpublishers, PayPal.me/freebirdpublishers


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Vendors and Publishers
Grant Publications

 Magazine subscription services with years of experience servicing inmates. Send SASE for more information. Order any five (5) magazine subscriptions and get one (1) year magazine subscription for free from specially marked list with (*). Serves people nationwide.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Newsletters and Magazines
Great Falls Books Through Bars

All volunteer group that distributes books to contribute to the education, entertainment and support of incarcerated people. Will read requests and find the closest matches they can among their book collection.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Haymarket Books

Haymarket Books is a nonprofit, radical book distributor and publisher based in Chicago. They believe that activists need to take ideas, history, and politics into the many struggles for social justice today. The books they offer reflect their values and are mostly non-fiction. Write to request free books on themes around Black liberation, radical history, women’s liberation, and poetry. Serves people nationally.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Vendors and Publishers
Inside Books Project

Sends free books and literature to prisoners in Texas only. Also sends a very informative prisoner resource guide free to prisoners in all states. Free or with donation of 2 loose first class stamps. Please no SASE. Serves people in Texas prisons only.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
LGBT Books to Prisoners

Volunteer-run organization that sends books and other educational materials, free of charge, to LGBT-identified people in prison across the US (except those in TX). Will send books in Spanish (enviar libros en Español). Sends one package of books per year.  Prefers requests by topic/genre, but can occasionally fulfill specific requests. Serves all states except Texas.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Liberation Library

The only organization that provides books of their choosing to youth in Illinois prisons. Volunteer-run. Write for a catalog of options.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Liberation Lit

Abolitionist group of volunteers sending books to individuals incarcerated in Missouri and Kansas only.  Also runs a small pen pal program.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Lopez Books

Books to prisoners program serving Washington and Alaska only. Send with general requests by genre and/or topic.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners

Sends books to people who are locked up in jails, prisons, and ICE facilities in Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas. Write in your book requests by topic or genre, or have a friend print the optional order form from our website and mail to you. Spanish resources available. No law books.


 


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Midwest Books to Prisoners

All-volunteer collective that sends books, zines, and other reading materials to incarcerated people free of charge. Also available are printed legal resources and customized internet newsletter subscriptions: tell us what you're looking for. We focus on midwestern states but we answer all requests. We also send materials in Spanish / también enviamos materiales en español.


 


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Midwest Pages to Prisoners Project

Midwest Pages to Prisoners provides free books and zines to prisoners in these ten Midwest states only: AR, IA, IN, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, OK, & SD. In your letter, please tell us what type of reading material you are interested in—sharing subjects and genres of interest is most helpful. 


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
Missouri Prison Books Program

All volunteer organization that sends free books on request to incarcerated people in Missouri.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs
News & Letters

News & Letters is a Marxist-Humanist newspaper published by the News and Letters Committees, an organization of Marxist-Humanists who stand for the abolition of capitalism, whether in its private property or state property form. It is published bi-monthly, and features articles by prisoners and others on the prison struggle. Free to prisoners. Serves people nationally.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Newsletters and Magazines
NYC Books Through Bars

Has a large assortment of fiction and non-fiction, including political and history books, and other educational books. Does not send religious texts. Fills requests from all states except AL, FL, LA, MA, MI, MS, NC, PA, OH & WI, and has a priority for New York prisoners.


Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs

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