SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WJPF) – In a first of it’s kind partnership, Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias is awarding more than $400,000 to the Department of Corrections to support 28 prison libraries throughout the state.
The funding provides each prison library with $15,000 to purchase things like books, magazines and newspapers, or library supplies.
The Secretary of State’s Office had provided grants to state prisons decades ago, but the program was eliminated during the 1980s. As of 2017, there were no specific state appropriations for reading materials in state prisons.
