4 Walls Prison Documentary

To Screen at Zeitgeist Nov. 11

By Susie Davidson

CORRESPONDENT

The lofty aim of self-education and literacy among prisoners is the mission of the Prison Book Program, a nonprofit which began in Cambridge and recently celebrated its 30th year of sending free books to inmates. This coming Monday evening at 8 p.m., the Zeitgeist Gallery at 1353 Cambridge St. in Inman Square continues its far-reaching agenda with the showing of “Corrections,” a 2001 documentary by director Ashley Hunt, to kick off “4 Walls,” a prison documentary film series.

The film, 58 minutes in length, looks at life inside an American prison as it examines the issue of privatization of the prison system. The series, which will continue intermittently at the Gallery, will benefit the Prison Book Program.

“Prisoners write to us with their book requests on all topics, and we send books to almost all prisons in the United States,” explained Program spokesperson Marjy B.

The project began in a back room at Cambridge’s Red Book Store in 1972, where staffers filled requests from prisoners, who could not receive books sent by individuals. Other branches spun off in national cities, and today the Program, now a part of the Lucy Parsons Center and Bookstore, sends out roughly 8000 books per year from 110 Arlington St. in Boston.

“The most common request,” said volunteer Christine O'Neill, "is for a dictionary. Also popular are books on ethnic heritage, GED materials, novels, basic math and science, drawing and history.” High quality paperbacks are donated, but dictionaries are bought new at wholesale costs in order to satisfy the demand. O’Neill noted that one famous student in prison was Malcolm X.

"We can't lock people away and not rehabilitate them," added volunteer Rayneil Alonzo.

O’Neill listed as examples Spanish-English dictionaries, which have been sent to English-speaking prisoners with Spanish-speaking cellmates, foreign language dictionaries and textbooks to those raised in the U.S. but about to be deported to their birth countries, and books on mediation and legal resources. All books are geared to the particular inmate’s appropriate level of education and comprehension.

She cited inmate Ray Champagne’s letter. “Prison Book kept the literature flowing into the cages,” he said. “Many of us were receiving books, we would talk about them, have discussions of events beyond us, yet which were a part of us. Books and book programs afford us the opportunity to grow, to see the world in a way that we would never have. I was allowed to see, think and feel beyond myself and my little world. I could now touch a whole universe, yet more importantly, I found that the universe could touch me."

“Ideas and optimism,” said O’Neill, “flow both into and out of prison despite the irritations of dealing with bureaucracy. Print and human resources get new life, much needed in a world with finite resources. Hopefully, we are all richer in the end.”

The Program celebrates its 30th anniversary on Nov. 6 at the 110 Arlington St. Conference Room, with food, letters from prisoners and a brief agenda.

Tickets to the Zeitgeist film show are $5. The Zeitgeist is located at 1353 Cambridge St. in Inman Square and is accessible by the 69 bus from Harvard Gate. For information, please call 617-876-6060 or visit.www.zeitgeist-gallery.org.

For further information on the Prison Book Program, call 617-731-9891 or email barbmvob@rcn.com.