How I turned prisoners’ misery into reading pleasure: the brilliant story of Bang Up Books | Books | The Guardian

It all started during the first Covid lockdown in 2020. I saw a tweet from HMP Pentonville asking for book donations for the prisoners who were stuck in their cells for 24 hours a day. I felt huge sympathy for them, having been sentenced, myself, to five years for tax fraud in 2016. It was far from easy during my jail term, but conditions were far worse during the pandemic as all visits, education and exercise were cancelled.

I called round my literary friends who had too many books on their shelves, and drove a car load to Pentonville, where they were gratefully received. Word quickly spread and I was soon delivering to a dozen jails in London and the home counties.

Prison literacy is something everyone should be concerned about, as approximately 50% of all inmates are functionally illiterate, which is a key factor in their offending. Prison librarians do an excellent job, but in these straitened times they find it difficult to keep their shelves up to date.