Summary:

Chicago Books to Women in Prison (CBWP) is a collective doing amazing work on behalf of women who are incarcerated. A volunteer collective, CBWP distributes books free of charge to women's prisons across the nation. According to their website, they are "dedicated to offering women behind bars the opportunity for self-empowerment, education, and entertainment that reading provides."

They also provide resources to women prisoners and their families.

How it works: 

CBWP sends book donations to prison libraries. Additionally, women may send their book requests directly to CBWP, who then fulfill the requests from their stock of donated books. Each package contains three books. 

• The most popular request is a paperback dictionary.
• Learn more about why they do  what they do and how to volunteer
• Learn more about what kind of book donations they are in most of need of, including Chicano, Urban, and African American fiction, meditation/yoga, lesbian and queer fiction, and puzzle books, among others.
  • All donations must be paperback
  • Email CBWP to arrange a time to drop off donations or stop by our space between 2-5pm every Sunday

CBWP's cofounder has been featured in The Core, a UChicago magazine: "Escapist Reading: Arline Welty AB' 04, cofounder of Chicago Books to Women in Prison, on why her form of activism is fun."