Helping Yourself When No One Else Will: The Importance of Getting Self-Help Literature into Prisons
Self-help books can be vehicles for self-empowerment and personal growth
If our criminal punishment system is to fulfill its supposed rehabilitative function, it makes practical and moral sense for carceral institutions, which limit physical freedom in the name of “correction,” to afford incarcerated individuals access to information. This is an important way for them to explore their passions and interests, work towards self-empowerment and personal growth, and pave their own way for opportunities upon release.
But our prisons, jails, and detention centers have failed in this role. The Internet—the single greatest tool for access to such information—is off limits. Prison libraries, if they exist at all, contain outdated books that few have any real interest in reading. Censorship is alive and well across our prison system, with decisions about which books are “authorized” depending on the caprices of corrections officials with little incentive to expedite the flow of information.
In the absence of adequate help from the institutions themselves, the receipt of books and other reading materials from outside sources becomes even more important to furthering the goals that our system professes to advance. This is especially apparent in the arena of self-help literature. A disproportionate percentage of the incarcerated population struggles with addiction and mental illness, yet supportive programing is limited and, for some, entirely unavailable. It is no surprise, then, that self-help is one of BBB’s most-requested genres.
During Depression and Mental Health Awareness Month, it seems particularly worth noting that self-help literature—while sometimes derided for its informal or inexact treatments of scientific insight—has proven invaluable to people from all walks of life in its focus on the clearer definition of personal goals and its systematic approach to change and growth. This type of writing can also frame insights from psychotherapy and other specialist disciplines in broadly accessible terms. It can also, crucially, be pursued at the reader’s own pace. Self-help literature has been shown to assist with common psychological issues such as anxiety and self-doubt and can offer guidance and comfort for those navigating and enduring the strain of prison life.
Self-help titles requested with particular frequency by users of BBB include such well-known inspirational texts as The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, as well as Robert Greene’s more controversial disquisitions on to the nature of human power and mastery. While these books have their detractors, critics such as Beth Blum argue that the drive to seek wisdom and advice in printed matter is ancient and widespread, and that to dismiss it as popular snake oil is profoundly snobbish, especially given its long interaction with “respectable” literary fiction.
A critical indicator of incarcerated individuals’ likelihood of post-prison success is the ability to achieve an education; to this end, many request textbooks linked to formal courses of study as such as the GED. Also popular are legal dictionaries and other titles that demystify the system in which they have found themselves enmeshed. While these genres are not typically gathered under the self-help rubric, they are no less important in helping incarcerated individuals begin to improve their current well-being and future prospects.
Please visit BBB’s Take Action page, which features information about how to contact us and make a donation, and our Amazon Wish List, which displays frequently requested titles that exceed per-book our budget.