WASHINGTON, DC (January 27, 2026) — Today, U.S. Representatives Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), and Shontel Brown (D-OH) re-introduced the Prison Libraries Act to expand library resources in U.S. state and territory correctional facilities, aiming to increase educational opportunities, advance reintegration efforts, and reduce recidivism. The bill will authorize $60,000,000 over six years for state prisons to expand library resources and services to support the education and skills training of incarcerated Americans.
“Libraries give everyone the chance to learn and grow, yet many correctional facilities lack the infrastructure to provide these essential resources,” said Congresswoman Valerie Foushee. “To reduce recidivism and support successful reintegration, our justice system must provide incarcerated individuals with ways to prepare for life after release. I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing the Prison Libraries Act to help more prisons establish libraries and educational programs, giving people the necessary tools to build skills and successfully re-enter their communities.”
“America’s correctional system is far too often focused on punishment rather than rehabilitation. The Prison Libraries Act is an attempt to shift this dynamic, providing incarcerated Americans with increased access to education and skills training services that will better prepare them for reintegration into society,” said Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. “By making strategic investments in the rehabilitative components of America’s correctional facilities, we can reduce recidivism, strengthen public safety, and curtail the growing costs of our correctional system.”
“Everyone deserves to have access to learning, ideas, information and literature no matter where they are,” said Congresswoman Shontel Brown. “The Prison Libraries Act would help give incarcerated community members the resources they need to pursue knowledge and development opportunities they would not have otherwise received. When people have access to education and information, they’re better equipped to succeed when they come home, and our communities are safer and stronger.”
“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,” said Sam Helmick, American Library Association President. “Funding from the Prison Libraries Act would expand educational services and provide incarcerated individuals with resources to build skills for employment and enable them to return to their communities better equipped for life after incarceration.”
Prison Libraries should not be treated as a privilege. They are one of the only places for people in prison to be connected to the world and intellectually stimulated. This is about the fundamental human right of all people to seek and receive information, and to access the ideas and lived experiences of others through literature; rights that are often abridged by carceral censors. We applaud Representative Cleaver for his inspiring effort to revive libraries in prisons through re-introduction of the Prison Libraries Act,” said Jonathan Friedman, PEN America’s Sy Syms Managing Director, U.S. Free Expression Programs.
Within the prison community, libraries offer escapism and a means for personal development through learning and acquiring new trades and skills that can be applied upon release. Ultimately, prison libraries are an innovative tool for rehabilitation and re-entry.
Over 600,000 individuals are released from federal and state prisons each year. Upon release, these individuals often struggle to reintegrate into their communities. This struggle is exacerbated by prisons often offering incarcerated individuals little to no educational or job training opportunities. The lack of such resourceful opportunities affects formerly incarcerated individuals' ability to find gainful employment once released and increases the likelihood of recidivism. Libraries are one of the most powerful and transformative resources against recidivism, but they tend to be substantially underutilized, scarce, insufficiently funded, and inadequately equipped with learning, training, information, and communication materials and technologies in American jails and prisons.
The Prison Libraries Act would authorize a competitive grant program for state and U.S. territory prisons to:
- Offer adequate library services, including education and job training, digital literacy, career readiness programming, and computer and internet access, among other services, for free;
- Invest in acquiring updated materials and equipment that reflect the prison population's interests, identities, abilities, and languages;
- Expand the infrastructure of prison libraries;
- Hire well-trained and qualified staff to manage libraries, their resources, and services; and
- Build a collaborative relationship with respective local public libraries.
The Prison Libraries Act is endorsed by the American Library Association, Books Through Bars, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, DC Books to Prisons, Friends & Foundation of the San Francisco Public Library, Missouri Humanities, Missouri Prison Books, Prison Book Program, Prison Library Project at Claremont Forum, Prisoners Literature Project, Vera Institute of Justice, and Books to Prisoners Seattle.
The Prison Libraries Act is cosponsored by Representatives Ed Case (D-HI), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Cleo Fields (D-LA), Dwight Evans (D-PA), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Julie Johnson (D-TX), Summer Lee (D-PA), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), Emily Randall (D-WA), David Scott (D-GA), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Bennie Thompson (D-MS).
Official text of the Prison Libraries Act is available here.