Library behind bars gets forced into closet

Oct 24, 2007 04:30 AM Joe Fiorito, Toronto Star
Darlene Soares helped a lot of guys escape from jail. Oh, relax. She put no files in cakes. She ran the library at the Toronto Jail. She gave out books.

Not any more.

We met in her apartment building the other day. She took me back to the beginning. "I was a legal secretary for 20 years. After I retired, I started working as a volunteer for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, at Old City Hall. One day we went over to the jail for a visit and I found myself filling out an application as a volunteer."

And then, almost just-like-that, the woman who had been running the library went on vacation and never came back, and Darlene had a library on her hands.
She said, "It was a mess in the beginning. There were empty shelves. There was no budget. I went to the Riverdale Library and asked for any books they were throwing out. I'd bring them home, clean them up, glue them, tape them, and bring them to jail in my bundle buggy." She became an expert at finding good used books for free; and in time – a nice touch, this – she began to get an annual donation of books from the Criminal Lawyers' Association. continue reading

Info courtesy [Found by Bookninja] @ Slow Reading