Published on Thursday July 12, 2012
Inmates at Toronto West Detention Centre have been denied books for much of
the last two years because a volunteer who ran the library retired.
At the Toronto East Detention Centre, library service has been sporadic for 16 years because of a lack of volunteers, said Brent Ross, a spokesman for the Correctional Services ministry. Student volunteers have filled in occasionally during the last two years, he said, adding that jails have relied on volunteers since 1996 when the province laid off all librarians in correctional institutions.
The locked-up library carts came to light when Alex Hundert, jailed for his role as an organizer of the G20 protest two years ago, wrote a blog this week about not being able to get a library book at Toronto West.
“Other than a few Bibles and Korans I haven’t seen a book since I got here,” wrote Hundert, who was sentenced June 26.
“When I requested to have the library cart sent to the range so I could borrow a book, the guards told me they haven’t seen the cart in ages.”
Hundert said he was told the last time a student volunteer was delivering books was about four or five months ago.
“Since then, those of us locked up here, most not yet having been convicted of any crime, have had no access to books to read.”
Toronto West and East are the only two of Ontario’s 29 detention centres without library volunteers, Ross said. Toronto West is scheduled to close in the next few years.
“Each institution has a volunteer co-ordinator who works to ensure the continuance of services,” he said.
“From my conversations with the captains, it would appear that if there were a new crop of volunteers to push the book cart, then people in here could have access to books again,” Hundert said.
Volunteers with the John Howard Society of Toronto, who are already inside the two jails, would be happy to push the cart, said executive director Greg Rogers.
“I believe in the power of books,” he said.
Recruiting volunteers for prison work is difficult, Rogers warned.
“A lot of people try to get into a prison not for altruistic reasons. If you let the wrong person in there, it could cause a lot of problems.”
He also offered the society’s services to help “recruit, train or schedule” volunteers alongside the volunteer co-ordinators.
Rogers said he hadn’t known the volunteers had left.
“Why inmates from the work range, where prisoners who work kitchen, laundry and janitorial duties are held, can’t push the cart, I don’t know,” Hundert wrote.
“It seems to me that it is in all of our best interests to make sure that books are available to prisoners who want to read them.”
Hundert was sentenced to 13½ months in prison (two years minus time served since 2010) as the last of a group of six who struck a deal with the Crown last November. He pleaded guilty to counselling to commit mischief and counselling to obstruct police.
The 31-year-old Kitchener man was moved from Toronto West on Monday to another provincial jail.
At the Toronto East Detention Centre, library service has been sporadic for 16 years because of a lack of volunteers, said Brent Ross, a spokesman for the Correctional Services ministry. Student volunteers have filled in occasionally during the last two years, he said, adding that jails have relied on volunteers since 1996 when the province laid off all librarians in correctional institutions.
The locked-up library carts came to light when Alex Hundert, jailed for his role as an organizer of the G20 protest two years ago, wrote a blog this week about not being able to get a library book at Toronto West.
“Other than a few Bibles and Korans I haven’t seen a book since I got here,” wrote Hundert, who was sentenced June 26.
“When I requested to have the library cart sent to the range so I could borrow a book, the guards told me they haven’t seen the cart in ages.”
Hundert said he was told the last time a student volunteer was delivering books was about four or five months ago.
“Since then, those of us locked up here, most not yet having been convicted of any crime, have had no access to books to read.”
Toronto West and East are the only two of Ontario’s 29 detention centres without library volunteers, Ross said. Toronto West is scheduled to close in the next few years.
“Each institution has a volunteer co-ordinator who works to ensure the continuance of services,” he said.
“From my conversations with the captains, it would appear that if there were a new crop of volunteers to push the book cart, then people in here could have access to books again,” Hundert said.
Volunteers with the John Howard Society of Toronto, who are already inside the two jails, would be happy to push the cart, said executive director Greg Rogers.
“I believe in the power of books,” he said.
Recruiting volunteers for prison work is difficult, Rogers warned.
“A lot of people try to get into a prison not for altruistic reasons. If you let the wrong person in there, it could cause a lot of problems.”
He also offered the society’s services to help “recruit, train or schedule” volunteers alongside the volunteer co-ordinators.
Rogers said he hadn’t known the volunteers had left.
“Why inmates from the work range, where prisoners who work kitchen, laundry and janitorial duties are held, can’t push the cart, I don’t know,” Hundert wrote.
“It seems to me that it is in all of our best interests to make sure that books are available to prisoners who want to read them.”
Hundert was sentenced to 13½ months in prison (two years minus time served since 2010) as the last of a group of six who struck a deal with the Crown last November. He pleaded guilty to counselling to commit mischief and counselling to obstruct police.
The 31-year-old Kitchener man was moved from Toronto West on Monday to another provincial jail.
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