The Daviess County Detention Center is partnering with the Daviess County Public Library to add an on-site permanent library. DCDC is currently seeking soft-cover book donations to assist with the launch.
Jailer Art Maglinger is considering using the new program to change its policy on books mailed to inmates. As is, he said it’s becoming increasingly challenging to detect contraband in books mailed from Amazon.
“Books being mailed in is the issue,” Maglinger said. “People are changing shipping labels and doing a lot of creative stuff with that to sneak contraband in, and it’s just getting hard to detect. You sort through hundreds of pages, and it’s really difficult.”
Currently, inmates have access to books through prison ministries and family members, but not all of them have that luxury. The detention center hopes to acquire 4,000 book donations to launch the program.
There are multiple ways community members or organizations can donate to the inmate library.
There is a dropbox for book donations at The Crowne at 107 East Second Street. Professors Derlic and Miller at Kentucky Wesleyan College are also accepting donations at the faculty office building behind the administration building on campus. Derlic currently teaches yoga at the detention center and arrived at the idea before one of their sessions.
Officials ask that individuals refrain from donating books with nudity or violence.
DCDC has already benefitted from multiple book donations.
On March 13, DCDC posted to its Facebook page that Andrew Brown and Troop 3120 coordinated a book drive for the facility for his Eagle project. Brown also worked with Cabinotch Innovative Solutions to design/construct cabinets and bookshelves for the facility. DCDC posted on March 18 that DCPL donated a few boxes full of books for the inmate library. And on April 11, former Daviess County Clerk David Oz Osborne donated several books.
