About Us

Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners is a 100% volunteer-run 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to encouraging literacy and supporting incarcerated people in the Deep South by providing access to books and print resources. Our goals are to make prison life more endurable and facilitate a connection between people locked up on the inside and free people on the outside. We affirm the right to read and access information, without judging people or their requests. We have no political or religious agenda and welcome all who value our mission.

We currently serve people who are doing time in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana. We’ve chosen to restrict our service area in order to get the best books out as quickly as possible to the people who write to us.

Please note that we are not serving Mississippi at this time. Mississippi is now served by Big House Books, PO Box 55586, Jackson, MS 39296. They are awesome! We’re so proud of them! For a mostly-complete list of groups that cover other states, please check the National Prisoner Resource List maintained by the Prison Book Program.

Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners has been run by a volunteer collective since 2003. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2006, our group was restarted with nothing more than a few salvaged bookshelves in the hallway of a local cooperative space. With the support of our community and the dedication of local volunteers, our library has grown to include thousands of donated books, allowing us to mail out thousands of packages a year to people inside.

We rely on the work of our volunteers to get books into the hands of people inside. Our funding comes from grants and individual donations, which allow us to purchase books, dictionaries, and GED study guides. Most of our budget is spent on shipping supplies and postage, and a minimal portion of our budget is spent on administrative expenses like website fees.  Our collective members and volunteers never receive any kind of financial compensation.

A note on our name: Although our longheld name includes the term “prisoners,” we are moving towards person-first language, such as “incarcerated person,” and avoid referring to the people we serve as “inmate,” “prisoner,” or “offender.”  This  language choice is in response to a direct ask from previously incarcerated people in our local community, and in concert with widespread movement towards person first language. We are in discussion about changing our name to better reflect our values, and plan to do so when we have capacity to limit the impact it would have on us actually sending books. For now, we strive to use person-first language in our communications, volunteer trainings, and community outreach. We hope you will join us in uplifting the dignity and humanity of the people we send books to.

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