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EDITORIAL: Incarcerated kids need libraries, too

Seattle Times - 1/5/2023

Jan. 5—People love redemption stories. But they often show less enthusiasm for the policies that support those turnarounds, particularly if aimed at anyone in the criminal legal system.

That's a missed opportunity when the financial investment is minimal, and its benefits potentially profound. For example: prison libraries, one of the least expensive avenues for making an impact that can extend well beyond the walls of a locked cell.

It's heartening to see that state legislators and officials understand this. Last year, Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge, secured more than $1 million for nine state prison libraries. Meanwhile, the Department of Children, Youth and Families has joined the Washington State Library in a pilot program to boost access to books for 75 young people sentenced to serve time at the Echo Glen Children's Center in Snoqualmie.

Until recently, the Issaquah School District was in charge of handling library services at that youth prison. But there was no librarian, nor a thoughtfully curated collection of books, according to Felice Upton, assistant secretary at Juvenile Rehabilitation. Upton, however, had previously run the Department of Corrections' women's prison and knew how beneficial a strong library program could be. So she began making calls.

"We can't care more about adults in DOC than we do for kids," she said.

Though the current investment is relatively modest — about $120,000 to cover a librarian, books and a year of programming at Echo Glen — the stakes are high. Fewer than 8% of the teenagers there are at grade level in language skills, and overall recidivism rates for Washington's youth prison system hovered just under 50% when last counted, in 2019.

Scant research definitively links library access to lower crime rates for young people, post-release. But there is a strong correlation between youth crime and low literacy.

"Kids don't necessarily need to love literature," said Upton. "But I do want them to love reading."

Judging by the early response to her efforts, there will be little need for a hard sell. During opening week at Echo Glen's spruced-up library last month, 60 kids checked out 150 books — memoirs, psychology and in more than a few cases, self-help.

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