Some Progress for Wisconsin Books to Prisoners Group

The library at the Green Bay Correctional Institution. Wisconsin Books to Prisoners and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections plan a second test of having books sent to incarcerated people. (Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Corrections)

The nonprofit Wisconsin Books to Prisoners told the Wisconsin Examiner that another pilot project involving the nonprofit and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections will take place in the next six to eight weeks.

The collaborations between the nonprofit and the department might lead to the books project being permitted to send used books to people incarcerated in prisons across the state.

The department said last year that it could no longer accept used books from anyone, including the nonprofit. The DOC cited concerns about drug smuggling and alleged that some book shipments tested positive for drugs. This led to scrutiny of the department’s rationale for the used book ban.

“We have hundreds of requests for books that haven’t been fulfilled since the only-new-books policy was established,” Camy Matthay of Wisconsin Books to Prisoners said over email.

In an August 2024 email to the books project, a DOC official said the concern was not with the nonprofit but with people who would impersonate it.

In late June, the books project organizers said they were able to send used and new books to Oakhill Correctional Institution in a pilot program. The books were added to the library collection, making them available for checkout by those who requested them.

DOC communications director Beth Hardtke said the pilot program was designed to allow the DOC to test and refine its screening process for donated reading materials to ensure safety.

Hardtke said that between 2019 and 2023, 20 incarcerated people died of drug overdoses in DOC facilities, while none have died of drug overdoses in 2024 or so far in 2025. She also cited a study about harmful effects that can occur when incarcerated people are exposed to drug-soaked paper strips.

“The goal is to eventually allow WBTP to send reading materials to individuals at any DOC facility — safely,” Hardtke said in late June.

Hardtke said at the time that starting July 1, WBTP would be able to send requested materials directly to individuals at Oakhill instead of the library.

Instead, the DOC has asked for a second pilot, Matthay said. For that, the books project will send books to a library at a second prison, Redgranite Correctional Institution. Matthay said this pilot will take place in the next six to eight weeks.

“Should our books pass inspection without issues at prison number two, WBTP hopes to return to fulfilling our mission, i.e., sending books directly to prisoners who request books from us,” Matthay said.

She said the group is not likely to return to sending books to prisoners directly before September.

Matthay said that per the DOC’s request, the group will no longer fulfill requests for specific titles. Instead, prisoners are asked to request books by subject matter or genre.

She said the group provides tracking numbers that will validate the source of the books, and that the nonprofit will also include embossed receipts.

According to Wisconsin Books to Prisoners, in August 2024, the group asked the DOC if the organization could resolve the concerns about impersonation by providing a postal service tracking number for every package of books it ships.

Hardtke said the department recognizes the importance of education and books as part of rehabilitation and maintains libraries at all institutions, offers books on electronic tablets and has educational partnerships with the University of Wisconsin System and the state’s technical colleges.

Critics have raised questions about the quality of the selection on the tablets and whether the quality of the libraries varies by institution.

Matthay said that when boxes of books have been returned to the nonprofit over the years, the cause was confusion in the mailrooms.

In late June, the nonprofit said that many of the packages of new books sent to prisoners had been returned to the group. Sending new books to prisoners is not banned by the DOC.

“We think this problem will resolve itself,” Matthay said, as the DOC establishes better lines of communication between the agency’s headquarters and the institutions that take in the books.

“The DOC understands that this will improve security for WBTP as well as the DOC,” Matthay said. She added that “it is also understood that when these pilots are completed and if we get a greenlight, that the new policy — whatever that may be — needs to be clearly communicated to all employees (and prisoners too) to avoid confusion.”

Wisconsin Books to Prisoners, DOC take another step on used book access was originally published by the Wisconsin Examiner.