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.