Alert Collector: Looking Inside: What Coloradans Who Are Incarcerated Like to Read

Abstract

A recent episode of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning podcast Ear Hustle titled “A Little Streets, a Little Romance, a Little Deception,” explores the reading tastes of incarcerated people in San Quentin, a California prison. The episode was so funny and insightful it inspired me to write about what people read in our Colorado prison libraries, with the hope that it will provide collection development guidance about what books this underserved population loves to read. Donations are a lifeblood to so many prison libraries, but unfortunately much of what is sent by well-meaning donors doesn’t meet the needs of the readers I serve.