When a flyer was put up in the NSW Dillwynia Correctional Centre for a new book club last year, the program was filled in just three hours.
Established by Australian author Bri Lee in collaboration with the Women’s Justice Network, the fREADom INSIDE project has been running since November 2021 and has seen $30,000 worth of books sent to women’s prisons around NSW.
The group is now running a series of book clubs in NSW women’s prisons, with the first round taking place in December 2024.
This saw 10 women at Dillwynia meeting each week to read and discuss a particular book, run by two facilitators.
One of these facilitators is the Women’s Justice Network’s Frances Drake, who has lived experience of prison. Drake ran the series of book clubs at Dillwynia in December, and said the feedback has been amazing.
“The reaction has been really fantastic – it’s been more than what we envisioned,” Drake told About Time. “It’s amazing just how much they’ve actually taken from it. This is a group of women who probably wouldn’t hang around together or necessarily associate together, and here they were.
“They were just so eager to learn and soak up this education and the words.”
Drake has now run four book clubs at the prison, focusing at first on actress Miriam Margolyes’s autobiography, This Much Is True. At the meetings, the group of women read from the chosen book and discuss certain themes and words.
Throughout just one month of book clubs, many of these women have come out of their shells and gained confidence and reading skills.
“We are in awe of these women and how they were supporting each other,” Drake said. “Certain people were struggling with the reading and even though they didn’t know each other, the encouragement the other women were giving them was really heartwarming.
We couldn’t believe just how well it was accepted and how much they were looking forward to it. We had a full house every single week we went in.”
The group plans to expand its book club program at Dillwynia this year, and will also be launching the program at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre.
Access to books and reading while incarcerated is an important way for people in prison to keep occupied and to learn while they are incarcerated.
Daniel Vansetten, who was formerly incarcerated and is now completing a law degree, is well aware of this, and has now launched a program to provide people in prison with study resources.
“It’s incredibly important,” Vansetten told About Time. “Prison is essentially just day after day of chronic boredom, and having access to books is really important to try to alleviate some of that boredom.
“It can give people a sense of meaning in life, it can help with rehabilitation and help them to avoid substance abuse and mental health issues. It puts you on a really positive path, and on top of that it can help people have a sense of agency over their own rehabilitation and express themselves when they come across issues.”
Vansetten launched the Books Behind Bars program late last year, with support from the Global Freedom Scholars Network. The program will initially run in South Australia, and will see donated books, including legal education materials, being distributed to those in prison in the state.
“The plan is to get hold of the books and start engaging with people in prison and hopefully be able to donate the books to those people to start self-directed learning while in jail,” he said.
“Anyone in prison can request to have a book sent to them. I can give instructions on how to send requests to me to get hold of a specific book, and I can send that book.”
Vansetten has directly experienced how difficult it is to access books while in prison. “When I attempted to purchase a dictionary for myself in prison – the most basic of learning materials and important for all sorts of things – the prison authorities prevented me from accessing it,” Vansetten said.
He was eventually able to gain access to the dictionary. He still has the Macquarie Australian Dictionary on the outside, and is now using it to help with his studies as part of the law degree.
“It’s a prized possession,” he said.
When a flyer was put up in the NSW Dillwynia Correctional Centre for a new book club last year, the program was filled in just three hours.
Established by Australian author Bri Lee in collaboration with the Women’s Justice Network, the fREADom INSIDE project has been running since November 2021 and has seen $30,000 worth of books sent to women’s prisons around NSW.
The group is now running a series of book clubs in NSW women’s prisons, with the first round taking place in December 2024.
This saw 10 women at Dillwynia meeting each week to read and discuss a particular book, run by two facilitators.
One of these facilitators is the Women’s Justice Network’s Frances Drake, who has lived experience of prison. Drake ran the series of book clubs at Dillwynia in December, and said the feedback has been amazing.
“The reaction has been really fantastic – it’s been more than what we envisioned,” Drake told About Time. “It’s amazing just how much they’ve actually taken from it. This is a group of women who probably wouldn’t hang around together or necessarily associate together, and here they were.
“They were just so eager to learn and soak up this education and the words.”
Drake has now run four book clubs at the prison, focusing at first on actress Miriam Margolyes’s autobiography, This Much Is True. At the meetings, the group of women read from the chosen book and discuss certain themes and words.
Throughout just one month of book clubs, many of these women have come out of their shells and gained confidence and reading skills.
“We are in awe of these women and how they were supporting each other,” Drake said. “Certain people were struggling with the reading and even though they didn’t know each other, the encouragement the other women were giving them was really heartwarming.
We couldn’t believe just how well it was accepted and how much they were looking forward to it. We had a full house every single week we went in.”
The group plans to expand its book club program at Dillwynia this year, and will also be launching the program at Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre.
Access to books and reading while incarcerated is an important way for people in prison to keep occupied and to learn while they are incarcerated.
Daniel Vansetten, who was formerly incarcerated and is now completing a law degree, is well aware of this, and has now launched a program to provide people in prison with study resources.
“It’s incredibly important,” Vansetten told About Time. “Prison is essentially just day after day of chronic boredom, and having access to books is really important to try to alleviate some of that boredom.
“It can give people a sense of meaning in life, it can help with rehabilitation and help them to avoid substance abuse and mental health issues. It puts you on a really positive path, and on top of that it can help people have a sense of agency over their own rehabilitation and express themselves when they come across issues.”
Vansetten launched the Books Behind Bars program late last year, with support from the Global Freedom Scholars Network. The program will initially run in South Australia, and will see donated books, including legal education materials, being distributed to those in prison in the state.
“The plan is to get hold of the books and start engaging with people in prison and hopefully be able to donate the books to those people to start self-directed learning while in jail,” he said.
“Anyone in prison can request to have a book sent to them. I can give instructions on how to send requests to me to get hold of a specific book, and I can send that book.”
Vansetten has directly experienced how difficult it is to access books while in prison. “When I attempted to purchase a dictionary for myself in prison – the most basic of learning materials and important for all sorts of things – the prison authorities prevented me from accessing it,” Vansetten said.
He was eventually able to gain access to the dictionary. He still has the Macquarie Australian Dictionary on the outside, and is now using it to help with his studies as part of the law degree.
“It’s a prized possession,” he said.
There are a number of popular prison book clubs and programs around the world.
The Noname Book Club was founded in 2019 in the US and now operates 12 book club chapters around the country. More than 1,300 people in prison in the US receive books twice a month as part of the program, which now sees more than 33,000 books sent to more than 400 prisons.
There is also the Prison Reading Groups in the United Kingdom, a charity which helps to start, fund and support reading groups in prisons. In 2023 the charity ran 84 reading groups in more than 60 prisons in the UK, and supplied more than 5,000 books. The organisation was awarded the Longford Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Prison Reform.
Book Clubs for Inmates is a registered charity that organises volunteer-led book clubs within prisons in Canada, with more than 40 book clubs now running around the country.
Drake has urged organisations around Australia and Corrections authorities to help facilitate more book clubs and better access to reading materials.
“My message would be to get to the library and have a look at the authors that are there and things that you might be able to take away,” she said.
“If you’re not a confident reader, put your name down for this if you’re able to – there’s no pressure for you to read, but these are skills that are going to help you for the rest of your life.
“It opens up a whole new world … they would never have read that book if they hadn’t had the opportunity – now they have, it has opened up a whole new way of life.
It’s a journey just on its own. We have a ball – we have a real laugh and we have a great time.”
There are a number of popular prison book clubs and programs around the world.
The Noname Book Club was founded in 2019 in the US and now operates 12 book club chapters around the country. More than 1,300 people in prison in the US receive books twice a month as part of the program, which now sees more than 33,000 books sent to more than 400 prisons.
There is also the Prison Reading Groups in the United Kingdom, a charity which helps to start, fund and support reading groups in prisons. In 2023 the charity ran 84 reading groups in more than 60 prisons in the UK, and supplied more than 5,000 books. The organisation was awarded the Longford Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Prison Reform.
Book Clubs for Inmates is a registered charity that organises volunteer-led book clubs within prisons in Canada, with more than 40 book clubs now running around the country.
Drake has urged organisations around Australia and Corrections authorities to help facilitate more book clubs and better access to reading materials.
“My message would be to get to the library and have a look at the authors that are there and things that you might be able to take away,” she said.
“If you’re not a confident reader, put your name down for this if you’re able to – there’s no pressure for you to read, but these are skills that are going to help you for the rest of your life.
“It opens up a whole new world … they would never have read that book if they hadn’t had the opportunity – now they have, it has opened up a whole new way of life.
It’s a journey just on its own. We have a ball – we have a real laugh and we have a great time.”
Prison work differs across the country.
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Help us get About Time off the ground. All donations are tax deductible and will be vital in providing an essential resource for people in prison and their loved ones.
Help us get About Time off the ground. All donations are tax deductible and will be vital in providing an essential resource for people in prison and their loved ones.
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