I profiled the many resources created through the Expanding Information Access for Incarcerated People grant project in the American Library Association’s State of America’s Libraries: A Snapshot of 2025. My article provides a guide to the grant work, background on library services and incarceration, and highlights some of the work being done across the field. (Note: the American Library Association is a collaborator in the grant work.)
The article closes with a description of the shifting landscape impacting library services and incarceration, which I’ve included below.
Shifting Landscape
The ability of jails, detention centers, and prison systems to censor materials continues to profoundly shape the experiences of people who are incarcerated. Censorship practices can be irrational, but they often also fall along lines of race, gender, and sexuality. Notable practices have included dictionaries in languages other than English at facilities in Michigan and censorship of materials created by incarcerated people.
Libraries that provide Reference by Mail services are grappling with how to navigate the professional ethic of patron privacy given the rise of jails and prisons partnering with private technology companies to digitize and retain mailed communications. Interruptions in federal funding have, at times, threatened prison library services.
The increasing detention of people who read in languages other than English is exacerbating a distinct need for information and materials in the languages in which people read. The rise in anti-transgender legislation informs and shapes prison policies, escalating incarcerated transgender people’s inability to access accurate information. Librarians and advocates are trying to provide resources and recreational materials like those described above within jails, juvenile detentions, and prisons across the country. Where available, these are cherished lifelines.
Trends that limit incarcerated people’s access to libraries can be held against recent successes. Groups like Initiate Justice demonstrate the possibility of creating collaborative
information-based projects that are built around the needs of people directly impacted by incarceration. Initiate Justice is changing California state practices through legislative education and advocacy, including by introducing greater transparency around censorship practices in California prisons.
The Prison Libraries Act was introduced early in 2026. If passed, it will result in grants that can be used for “creating libraries in prisons without libraries and in prisons that otherwise would not have the means to scale library services.” ALA President Sam Helmick expressed the importance of the Act in a press release from Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II’s office, writing: “Prison libraries open doors of opportunity and provide essential literacy support to address the urgent information needs of millions of incarcerated people in the United States.” Passage of this Act will result in a remarkable increase in library services for incarcerated people.
The stark need for additional funding is a reminder that many institutional libraries are maintained by incarcerated library workers, often for very little pay. Incarcerated library workers desire opportunities for professional development and want to use the skills they’ve built in their future employment. Librarians looking for guidance and ideas will find these in ALA’s Standards for Library Services for the Incarcerated or Detained (Note: the Standards are available as a downloadable PDF at this link.) The Standards offer general guidelines and present real-world examples of successful programs alongside aspirational visions for moving ahead. Librarians across the country are drawing from the Standards to create new services, models, and resources that will broaden the field of academic, legal, prison, and public librarianship.
The full State of America’s Libraries: A Snapshot of 2025 is available online at this link.
Jeanie Austin, PhD 