A Community Service Project of The Claremont Forum

 History
The Prison Library Project is a community service project of the Claremont Forum, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to enrich lives through education, arts, and wellness programs. The Prison Library Project was founded in 1973 by Ram Dass and Bo Lozoff in Durham, North Carolina. The PLP relocated to Claremont, California in 1986.  We celebrated twenty years of service in Claremont in 2006.

Mission
The mission of the PLP is to provide reading material, free of charge, to prison inmates, chaplains, librarians, and study groups. We also provide books to recovery groups, survivors of domestic abuse, and other support groups in our community. Our goal is to address issues of literacy which deal with practical, real-life questions: What does it mean to be responsible for one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions? What is personal growth?

We extend an invitation to prison inmates to embrace personal responsibility and to cultivate an appreciation for the world of books, ideas, and education. We help inmates and others to learn how to take charge of their lives in positive ways and to take steps to return to society with new thinking and emotional skills and confidence to contribute to their families and communities in meaningful ways.

What We Do
The PLP receives nearly 200 letters a week from inmates.   We mail over 30,000 books each year to individuals and libraries in 600 prisons, jails, and detention centers throughout the United States. Chaplains from local jails, including Los Angeles County Jail, pick up books to take into the jails. We also provide inmates and others with our Ways and Means resource list, a compilation of over 400 different service and legal organizations concerned with the unique situation faced by prisoners and those returning to society after being incarcerated. Boxes of materials are also hand-delivered to local prisons and community organizations such as House of Ruth, Prototypes, and Crossroads.

  How You Can Help
The PLP is a non-profit organization, staffed by volunteers, and funded by donations and Claremont Forum events and fundraisers. The books we provide are obtained through donations by publishers, bookstores, and private individuals, and mainly focus on personal and spiritual growth, health, self-esteem, and various religious traditions. Inmates also request books of history, literature and fiction, so we gladly accept books of that type as well.  Dictionaries are requested most frequently and we’re always in need.  We send primarily paperback books to prisoners due to prison regulations.  Hardback books are directed to 1) the area facilities where volunteers deliver or staff members come to pick up; or 2) turned into dollars-for-postage in our Thoreau Bookshop.

We need of volunteers to help read letters, pull books, mail out the Ways & Means Resource List, and work at our Thoreau Bookstore or the Farmers and Artisans Market to sell books for fundraising purposes.  Please let us know if you are interested. To volunteer, call 909/626-3066 or email us at claremontforum@gmail.com.

Financial contributions are a most urgent need.  It costs $3.00 to send a box of 4-6 books to each inmate and $5.00 to send a box of 15-20 books to a prison library.  No contribution is too small. Please send financial contributions to:

           The Claremont Forum, 586 W. First Street, Claremont, CA  91711.

Our hours are generally 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Fridays, and during most Claremont Forum events.  Or, call (909) 626-3066 for an appointment.

Please send all correspondence regarding the Prison Library Project to:

For our resource guide click HERE

" The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by observing its prisoners."   - Dostoyevsky