Kelly Brotzman, the executive director of the Prison Book Program, knows most people take for granted the ability to pick up a book. Since her time teaching in prisons, Brotzman has made it her mission to educate people on the realities of the U.S. prison system.

The Prison Book Program is an organization that sends free books to people in prisons.

As an approved book vendor at more than 1,000 prisons and jails, the program has steadily grown with the dedication, care and time from volunteers since 1972. With minimal access to the internet, low-quality libraries and barriers to receiving books from loved ones, prisons and jails have become book deserts.

With help from Brotzman, the program continues to thrive and expand year by year. In 2024, the program donated nearly 70,000 books; the year before, just over 63,000. In 2024, 1,470 people volunteered time to fulfill book requests from 19,875 requests, a 9% increase from 2023.

The Prison Book Program held its first annual fundraiser on Oct. 23. Guest speaker Sean Ellis, who spent 22 years behind bars after he was arrested as a teenager for a crime he did not commit, will join in a conversation about the prison system, justice, and the power and importance of books. The event will start at 5:30 p.m. at More Than Words Bookstore in Boston.

Brotzman spoke passionately about the importance of the program’s work.

“Reading is one of the most constructive things you can do during a term of incarceration. There’s a lot of unconstructive things you can do during time behind the wall, but reading is one of the most positive things you can do. One of our foundational beliefs is reading is good for everybody. Full stop. Any kind of reading is good for everybody,” said Brotzman.

The Scope sat down for an interview with Brotzman at United First Parish Church in Quincy, the program’s headquarters. Brotzman spoke about the vitality of books for incarcerated people, how the program runs, and some of the troubles they face in their work. This interview was trimmed for length and clarity.

Lily Blair: Can you tell me a little bit about what the Prison Book Program is?

KB: We… send free books upon request to incarcerated people all over the United States. Most people don’t realize that prisons and jails in our country don’t offer a whole lot in terms of education, entertainment, rehabilitative programming… One of our foundational beliefs here is: reading is good for everybody. 

LB: You mentioned families sending books directly to incarcerated people, but your website states that families cannot send you books and can only submit requests on behalf of their loved ones. Why is that? 

KB: The reason for that is prisons and their security awareness… If it’s some third party, the idea is they might want to put contraband in there… We do have family members ask, “Why can’t I just provide the book and send it to you?” Because they won’t allow it. A lot of prisons now won’t even take books from Amazon because their packages are so easy to spoof and impersonate. 

LB: Do the books you send have to be new books? 

KB: Not always… We have an app that prints out all the rules that we know about at that facility… Unless it says new only… those people need new books, and that’s typical in the higher security facilities like the Maximums.

LB: You mentioned being an approved book vendor. So, how did you guys become an approved book vendor? 

KB: At a lot of places, it’s our legacy status… We’ve been doing this for 53 years… At some places, we have to negotiate it. We lose it frequently. We get off the list of approved book vendors. The most frequent reason that happens is because of a personnel change. There’s a new commissioner or a new warden, and to show how tough they are, they have to change all the rules. 

LB: Your website states that you do not serve books to facilities in Texas, Michigan, and California. Is that why? 

KB: We don’t serve state or local facilities in those three states… We serve federals. So we say we serve all 50 states because there’s at least a few facilities in every state that we do serve… The reason in the case of California and Texas is that… they have extraordinarily high prison populations… [so] they are served by excellent free book programs that serve only those jurisdictions… Michigan is a different case… the state of Michigan had a piece of legislation passed that was going to provide vast sums of money to prison libraries. But in return… no outside books.

LB: How did you get involved personally? Can you tell me about your role as executive director? 

KB: I do a little bit of everything… fundraising, finance, communicating, all that sort of stuff… and I’m here at least two volunteer sessions a week… [but] very often three… I originally… had a 20-year career in higher education. I was a college professor and my field was social ethics… so I was aware that there was this thing called mass incarceration… but I’d never really seen it up close… I knew once I had seen what was inside there, I could never be the same. And I could never look away because the problem is the monster of the prison system can only exist because so many people don’t see it. 

LB: Where does your fundraising money go? 

KB: The single largest line item in our budget is postage… Last year, we spent $125,000 on postage… And then come salaries… We purchase a fair number of books… A good example is dictionaries… Nobody has dictionaries to donate… we spend about $40,000 to $50,000 a year on acquiring books themselves… And then all the supplies that it takes from the mailing bags to the tape, to the labels… And then there’s every expense that every place of employment has to have, like we have to pay payroll taxes… property insurance… overhead costs.

LB: Is most of the money you receive from donations, or do you receive any grants or federal money? 

KB: As we’ve grown, we have been mindful that we have to increase grant-making… We’re now raising about $150,000 a year in grants. Which is more than we’ve ever done… Our budget this year, just for context, is in the order of $560,000… Individual donors are where it’s at for us. Always has been. It’s people who are moved by our mission, people who are book lovers, people who are concerned about the prison system, people who just can’t imagine life without books.