The library where books never leave

It's a different kind of library. The books can be checked out, but neither the books nor the patrons are going anywhere.

Last week the Cape Girardeau County Jail was given an assortment of books for the inmates to check out and read. Retired Southeast Missouri State University literature professor Dr. Jennie Cooper spearheaded a book drive when she learned no official library existed at the jail.

Cooper considers life without literature "cruel and unusual punishment."

Not having books isn't meant to be punishment. Capt. James Mulcahy, jail administrator for the sheriff's department, said there's no place to put one at this jail. The old jail had a common area where inmates could gather and select reading material. Riverside Regional Library at Jackson had an arrangement with the jail to allow the inmates to check out books if they wanted.

But the new jail, open since March 2001, does not have a common area, so the inmates have been limited to select magazines, softcover books the canteen sold and religious material supplied by the Gideons and the local ministerial alliance.

A security risk exists with some books. Heavy, hardcover volumes can become weapons in the wrong hands.

After checking with Sheriff John Jordan and Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle to determine what kind of reading material the inmates could have, Cooper asked about 20 friends and acquaintances to donate books and culled some from her own library. Among the books are dictionaries, law dictionaries and encyclopedias for reference.

For -- um -- escape literature, the group included adventure books, suspense books, classic novels and books at all reading levels.

"This library is very select," Cooper said. "We went through every single book to make sure it was appropriate for a library. We were looking for, among other things, classic books like 'Brave New World.' We were looking to enrich their minds and provide an outlet for them to turn to."

The sheriff's department also will sort through all the books to make sure there's nothing in the binding or among the pages that could be dangerous. The hardbound reference books will be treated the same way law books are. The jail does not have a law library, but does make law books available under supervision.

The softbound books of light reading will be placed on rolling library carts, which will be pushed from pod to pod for inmates to select from and check out. Mulcahy said the jail staff is now working on setting up systems for checking out volumes, tracking overdue books, and getting the carts which he expects to be stocked and ready to roll in a couple of weeks.

The inmates don't yet know the books will be available, but Mulcahy said he is certain the library will be welcome and that some inmates would spend more time reading if something worthwhile were available to read.

"Some guys can probably read a 200 to 300 page book a day," he said.

It took four months for Cooper to gather enough books, set up a card file system and catalog the volumes. She said credit for the project does not belong to her, but should be shared with, among others: Phil Finney, Paul Thompson, Sondra Fitzpatrick, Dr. and Mrs. Dale Haskell, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Hamblin, Dr. and Mrs. Jack Hensley, Dr. and Mrs. Morris Osburn, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Burns, Deborah Raschke, Mr. and Mrs. Alan Zacharias, Mr. and Mrs. Dan O'Neal, Judy Peetz, Judy Hutson, Mary Curtis of Oran, Bekki Cook, Ed Duis, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Hoover, Dr. and Mrs. John Hinni, and the Presbyterian Church. All but Curtis are from Cape Girardeau.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, ext. 160