Help an inmate—send a book

We at TAP-X are always looking for ways to help inmates thrive, improve their quality of life, and prepare for successful reentry. Books ranked within the top five items to help an inmate. While many prisons have libraries, most are filled with outdated and worn out material. Many prisoners and their families don’t have access to extra funds to provide quality reading materials for their incarcerated loved ones. If you’s like to help an inmate —send a book.

Each of the volunteer groups on this list provides free books to prisoners who write them and request books.  Most only fulfill one request per year, unless stated, and note the service area of each program. Some groups serve prisons nationally, others just in certain states. 

Check the list to see which organizations serve your area. Perhaps you can help them with books or stamps they can donate to help free books for prisoners continue. 

Please share this list with your friends, and post a link to this page on your Facebook and social media accounts. Thank you!

ASHEVILLE PRISON BOOKS PROGRAM
67 N Lexington Ave
Asheville, NC 28801
(Serves NC, SC, GA, and TN)

ATHENS BOOKS TO PRISONERS
30 1st Street
Athens, OH  45701
(Serves OH) 

APPALACHIAN PRISON BOOK PROJECT
PO Box 601
Morgantown, WV 26507
(Serves KY, MD, OH, TN, VA, WV)

BELLINGHAM BOOKS TO PRISONERS
c/o Left Bank Books
92 Pike Street, Box A
Seattle, WA  98101
(Serves All US States except CA and MA)

BOOK ‘EM
5129 Penn Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
(Serves PA)

BOOKS THROUGH BARS – NYC
c/o Bluestockings
172 Allen St
New York, NY 10002
(Serves all of the USA)

BOOKS THROUGH BARS, PHILADELPHIA
4722 Baltimore Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19143
(Serves PA, NJ, NY, DE, MD, VA, and WV)

BOOKS TO PRISONERS – SEATTLE
c/o Left Bank Books
92 Pike Street, Box A
Seattle, WA  98101
(Serves: All US states except CA and MA)  NOTE:  you can request books once every nine months.

CHICAGO BOOKS TO WOMEN IN PRISON 
Chicago Books to Women in Prison
c/o RFUMC
4511 N. Hermitage Ave.
Chicago, IL 60640
(Serves AZ, CA, CT, FL, IL, IN, KY, MS, MO, and OH)

DC BOOKS TO PRISONS 
PO Box 34190
Washington, DC 20043-4190
(Serves All US States except New England, IL, NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, WA, WI.)

GAINESVILLE BOOKS FOR PRISONERS
P.O. Box 12164
Gainesville, FL 32604
(Serves all of the USA)  
Note: Accepts Requests by topic of interest only.

INSIDE BOOKS PROJECT
c/o 12th Street Books
827 West 12th Street
Austin, Texas 78701
(Serves TX)

BOOKS THRU BARS OF ITHACA
c/o Autumn Leaves Used Books
115 The Commons
Ithaca, NY 14850
(Serves NY)

BOOKS 2 PRISONERS
831 Elysian Fields Box# 143
New Orleans, LA 70117
(Serves AL, AR, LA, MS.)  

CONNECTICUT PRISON BOOK CONNECTION
PO Box 946
Rocky Hill, CT 06067-0946
(Serves CT)

MIDWEST PAGES TO PRISONERS PROJECT
C/o Boxcar Books
310A S. Washington St.
Bloomington, IN 47401
(Serves AR, IN, IA, KS, KY, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, OK, SD, TN, and WI)

OLYMPIA BOOKS TO PRISONERS
c/o Center for Community Based Learning and Action 
The Evergreen State College. Sem II E2125, 
2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW
Olympia, WA 98505
(Serves entire USA) 

OPEN BOOKS BOOKSTORE +PRISON BOOK PROJECT
1040 N. Guillemard St.
Pensacola, FL. 32501
(Serves FL)

PORTLAND BOOKS TO PRISONERS
c/o Left Bank Books
92 Pike Street, Box A
Seattle, WA  98101
(Serves All US states except MA) 
NOTE: Request by topic not author. No legal or religious requests.

PRISON BOOK PROGRAM
1306 Hancock St. Suite 100
Quincy, MA 02169
(Serves all states but CA, MA, MD, MI, PA, or TX). 
NOTE: Does not offer computer books, horror, romance, textbooks, true crime, or white supremacist materials. Publishes the National Prisoner Resource List free to prisoners nationwide on request.

PRISON BOOK PROJECT
C/o Food for Thought Books
P.O. Box 396
Amherst, MA 01004-0396
(Serves All US states except MA) 

PRISONER LITERATURE PROJECT
c/o Bound Together Books
1369 Haight St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
(Serves All US states except OR and MA)

PROVIDENCE BOOKS THROUGH BARS
C/o Atlas Bower Books
245 Meeting Street
Providence, RI 02906
(Serves all USA)

READ BETWEEN THE BARS
c/o Daily Planet Publishing
P.O. Box 1589
Tucson, AZ 85702-1589
(Serves AZ only)

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN BOOKS TO PRISONERS PROJECT
UC Books to Prisoners
Box 515 Urbana IL 61803
(Serves Illinois)

WISCONSIN BOOKS TO PRISONERS
c/o Rainbow Bookstore 
426 W. Gilman Street 
Madison, WI 53703
(Serves WI)

WOMEN’S PRISON BOOK PROJECT
c/o Boneshaker Books
2002 23rd Ave S
Minneapolis MN  55404
(Serves All US states except CT, FL, IL, IN, MA, MI, MS, OH, OR, and PA)

Thank you for your consideration. As a former inmate, I know that by sending book, you will help an inmate more than you can imagine; it may even help them thrive.