book club

I/O Book Club Vol. 3

Responses to the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison from readers on both sides of the bars.

books

Wish List Launched

Help us source some of our most frequently-requested titles!

book club

I/O Book Club Volume 2

The current volume, which includes responses from 14 readers, is a testament to how much this project has grown since it began.

Poetry

Poem & Pen Pal Request

This poem was written by Thomas Neeley, a participant in our book club. Thomas is looking for a pen pal, so check out his info below to write to him! Poem (Untitled) If I was made out of gold or platinum Would I be treated precious and rare Or would

book access

Onslow County Book Policy Clarified

Sheriff says books ARE still allowed at the jail as long as they come from "legitimate" distributors or publishers, and that there was never a plan to ban books at the facility.

book club Featured

First-ever I/O Book Club Journal Released!

We wanted to provide the experience of a book club–the exchange of perspectives and dialogue–to those inside who otherwise might not have access to such an activity.

event

Banned Books Week, Sept. 22-28

“In the era of prison profiteers like JPay, we’re potentially seeing the dawn of a new era of prison censorship."

volunteers

Order Fulfillment Volunteer Training!

Saturday, August 10 from 1-3pm, attend this trainining to learn how to fulfill requests for books!

fundraiser Featured

Hollow Book-Making Workshop!

Transform your old hardcovers into sneaky storage--because the best secrets are hidden in plain sight.

Prison Reading Group Planning Meeting

Asheville Prison Books wants to facilitate a correspondence reading group with people who are in prison. The general plan is to select and source a book, figure out who will participate in this group, send them copies of the book, solicit their feedback on the reading, and then publish their

fundraiser

Book Drive + Benefit Concert w/ Ben Phan & the Jarvis Jenkins Band!

April 27 @7-11pm - Special solo show w/ guitarist Ben Phan followed by UpCountry Brewery favorite Jarvis Jenkins! $5-10 suggested, no one turned away!

fundraiser

Beer Benefit

Catawba Brewing is releasing a new habenero mole porter this Thursday and $1 from each glass will be going to Asheville Prison Books! We'll have a table at Catawba's South Slope Tasting Room & Brewery at 32 Banks Avenue on Thursday evening (December 6th) if you want to stop by and

Guest Post: Letting Go, Setting Free

When you've amassed a personal library of hundreds of books over a lifetime, the tough process of passing those loved volumes on starts with the question: where should they end up? When faced with this question, Orlando-based writer Mark I. Pinsky reached out to Asheville Prison Books. He chose our

august21 Featured

Asheville Prison Books Endorses #August21 Nationwide Prison Strike: 8/21-9/9

Asheville Prison Books endorses the national prison strike called for by prisoners which begins August 21st and extends to September 9th. The insane incarceration rate in the United Sates should be common knowledge by now, but you may not have known this horrifying piece of information: North Carolina, which has

fight the power

Big House Books Wins Lawsuit!

As reported in in May, Big House Books based in Mississippi sued MS DOC for banning donated/free books from coming into MS prisons. We found out this week that they WON their lawsuit! This is great news for everyone and MS and beyond! And given similar wins at the

Fought the Power—And Won!

We're delighted to announce that APB is once again able to send free/donated books to Alexander CI (AXCI) in Taylorsville! We challenged a nonsense policy and WON. As reported in this blog post last week, Asheville Prison Books was notified by the AXCI administration back in March that no

prison policy

Big Ups to Big House Books! Fight the Power!

The reason they are no longer allowing donated books has nothing to do with contraband or security; it is because they don't feel like doing their jobs, which is to sort and distribute prisoner mail.

South Carolina

South Carolina "riot" and call for National Prisoners Strike

Corey Scott, Eddie Casey Gaskins, Raymond Angelo Scott, Damonte Rivera, Michael Milledge, Cornelius McClary and Joshua Jenkins were killed and 22 prisoners wounded in a rebellion at the Lee Correctional Institution late Sunday and early Monday, April 15-16, 2018, in Bishopville, S.C. Check out this piece about the incident

Asheville Anarchist Rad Fair!

On April 1 we tabled at the Asheville Anarchist Rad Fair, an outdoor gathering of local projects run by anarchists/anti-authoritarians that do a wide variety of excellent work in our community, from prisoner solidarity and support to grassroots organizing to community self defense, medical solidarity, and more! The sun

Help us get these books into people's hands!

We're doing a great job filling requests: so good, in fact, that we're running low on funds! AVL Prison Books is 100% volunteer run. We only have one real expense: postage. Every month we get between 100-200 requests for books, and each package costs about 3 dollars to mail. So

New Jim Crow on its way into NC prisons!

Thanks to our community partner Faith 4 Justice & Malaprops Books! We are delighted to be partnering with Faith4Justice Asheville to get copies of the ground-breaking book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander into NC prisons, where it had previously been banned. Local bookstore Malaprops helped source the book by

Operation Push

Keep PUSHing: Building on the #OperationPUSH demands

Mere days before FDC's repression effort began scattering active prisoners into new facilities, and into solitary confinement for the weeks surrounding January 15, an Operation PUSH prisoner's anonymous voice reached the world and called on outside supporters to 'shine a light from the outside in on the system.' In

Packaging Party

Monthly Packaging Party! Feb. 22

Thursday, February 22 @ 6-9pm Firestorm Books & Coffee (610 Haywood Rd) Asheville Prison Books and Tranzmission Prison Project will gather to pack up tons of books to send out to our friends behind bars--come help out! Can't make it? Catch us next month (March 22) for our regular packaging party on

fundraiser

Brews for Books

New Beer Thursday Fundraiser at Catawba! Join us at Catawba's South Slope Tasting Room & Brewery on Thursday, Feburary 15th for their first New Beer Thursday fundraiser of 2018!! Starting with the release on the 15th and running through March, $1 from every glass of their pomegranate sour sold will be

South Carolina

SC lawmaker calls for firing squads to carry out the death penalty

Fox Carolina: South Carolina Rep. Josh Putnam (R, Piedmont) said he plans to reintroduce a bill to add firing squads to the execution methods in South Carolina. Putnam first introduced the bill in 2015 but the legislation didn’t pass. He said the new bill would be almost identical to