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 |
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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. Alabama only.
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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. 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. Sends to DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA & VA only. |
Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs |
Books to Prisoners (Seattle) Provides free reading materials to incarcerated individuals. Most books are used; limited access to new books. Write directly to request (no requests by email or phone). Serves people nationwide. Typical turnaround is 2+ months; people in short-term facilities should note in their request how long they anticipate being incarcerated. |
Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs |
Books to Prisons Alabama Free book project covering Alabama and Texas. Write with general requests.
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Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs |
DC Books to Prisoners Request free reading material by mail. Sends books 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 Provides free books to people incarcerated around the US. Write to request specific titles, authors, and or general types of books you're interested in. If we don't have exact titles or authors on hand, we will do our best to send a close match from books available. Serves: federal facilities and CA, TX, and FL state facilities. |
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 The only organization that provides books of their choosing to youth in Illinois prisons. Volunteer-run. Write for a catalog of options. Illinois only. |
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 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. Sends books to people who are locked up in jails, prisons, and ICE facilities in Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas. |
Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs |
Midwest Books to Prisoners Midwest Pages to Prisoners provides free books and zines to prisoners in the Midwest. Serves only AR, IA, IN, KS, ND, OK, & SD. |
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 Abolitionist group of volunteers sending books to individuals incarcerated in Missouri and Kansas only. Also runs a small pen pal program. @moprisonbooks on Instagram. |
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 Write for free books from 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, and WI. Priority for New York prisoners. |
Books, Magazines, and Publishers, Free Books Programs |