I choose to research the prison inmates as an information community. My research will focus primarily on adults held in correctional facilities such as federal, state, private prisons, jails, and detention centers. Although this may seem like a “niche” community, incarceration is a common occurrence, especially among marginalized groups that have been historically impacted by justice. According to a 2020 report, “The American criminal justice system holds almost 2.3 million people in 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories” (Sawyer & Wagner, 2020). However significant in their numbers, the incarcerated often are invisibilized as information users and library patrons.
Information communities are “groups of people who have a shared stake in mobilizing information resources” (Fisher & Bishop, 2015). For prisoners, this stake is heightened because their access to information is tightly constrained by state and federal law, in addition to the rules and regulations of the institutions and facilities that house them. Contact with the outside world is limited to visits, phone calls, and letters, and not everyone has those privileges available to them. Devices for browsing the internet are prohibited in state and federal prisons and jails (except in rare instances), and there is a long list of banned books and materials that inmates cannot access.
What resources are available come in the form of prison libraries, prison education, reference-by-mail services where reference questions are sent by post to public librarians, prison issued tablet computers, contraband devices and materials, other inmates, and prison personnel.
Below I will explain further how prison inmates may be described as an information community using characteristics delineated by Bishop and Fisher(2015):
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- “[E]mphasis on collaboration among diverse information providers”
Prisons are populated by a diverse number of people from different racial, ethnic, religious, and educational backgrounds. Prisoners may gather information from each other, prison personnel, family members, prison educators, library staff, and others to learn skills such as cooking, makeup artistry, and religious study.
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- “[C]apacity to form around people’s needs to access and use information”
Since information and its circulation can be so highly restricted in correctional facilities, prisoners rely on each other to share knowledge. Prisoners share many common information needs, which cover legal aid, how to live life after prison (reentry), job skills, the legal system, prisoner’s rights, and how to contact family and friends (Sambo et al, 2017).
3 and 4. “[C]apacity to exploit the information-sharing qualities of emerging technologies,” and “ability to transcend barriers to information sharing”
Although internet accessible devices are considered contraband in most correctional facilities, these devices have nonetheless made it into the hands of inmates who use them for email, social media, research, texting, and even coordinating prison labor strikes.
Correctional facilities are perceived as places hostile to relationship building and collaboration, but prisoners are often able to overcome these obstacles to network, learn, create, and share knowledge with each other. I anticipate that my research into the information behaviors and needs of this community will also delve into discussions around intellectual freedom, access, censorship, surveillance, and other issues important to all information professionals.
References
Fisher, K. E., & Bishop, A. P. (2015). Information communities: Defining the focus of information service. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (pp. 20-26).
Sambo, A., & Usman, S., & Nafisa, R. (2017). Prisoners and Their Information Needs: Prison Libraries Overview. Library Philosophy and Practice. 2017. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4135&context=libphilpra
Sawyer, W., & Wagner, P. (2020) Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2020. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html
Hey Louise,
This is a fantastic information community research that you’ve decided to research! As a far too often overlooked and marginalized group of individuals in our society, I appreciate seeing other looks into and give more attention to prison inmates and their plight. I actually read up on a very interesting project started by Reveal Digital and their plans to digitally preserve and archive prison newspaper publications, which I found fascinating.
Here’s the citation and link to the article I found, in case you’re interested. Hope it helps!
Peet, L. (2021, August 10). Reveal Digital Collects, Digitizes American Prison Newspapers. Library Journal. https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=reveal-digital-collects-digitizes-american-prison-newspapers
Wow Victor, I can’t express how excited I am to browse through that database. This provides an invaluable and unique perspective into the lives of the incarcerated. I’m amazed that the archives go back to the 1800s! Hooray for open access!
I was very excited to discover it as well, this will definitely help those doing research into the prison community try to better understand their unique perspectives and insights and hopefully contribute to finding much-needed solutions to the inequity and lack of resources many of these people face. It also makes me feel excited that our line of work can lead us to taking on such important and crucial projects to help all sorts of different communities!
Hi Louise,
I’m happy to see that you have chosen the prisoner community for you research project. I very nearly chose this same information community as well!
I know that in some prisons people held there are not allowed any access to books at all. The rights of the prison population are sorely overlooked (as sadly evidenced during this pandemic) and I look forward to reading more about your research.
Funnily enough, I also recently read the same Reveal Digital article that Victor just mentioned. It looks like such a great project and I’m sure that it could help inform your work here.
Hi Erin,
You’re correct that prisoner’s rights as humans are often overlooked by the general public. Yesterday, 9/9/21, was the 50th anniversary of the Attica uprising, and their demands back then (https://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Attica-Prisoners-Demands.pdf), such as the end of censorship, adequate medical care, and communication with the outside world are still unmet in for U.S prisoners today.
I’m definitely looking forward to working more on this research project and I’m happy there’s so much information out there for me to use!
Hello Louise,
I think you have chosen a great community to focus on and I will be interested to see what your research discovers about the lack of information provided to the prison community. This community topic makes me think about the movie “Shawshank Redemption” and how Andy Dufresne fought to expand the library to provide better resources for all prisoners.
Thanks, Annalise. Embarrassingly I have never seen The Shawshank Redemption, but I certainly will now, knowing that there’s a prison library involved!
Hi Louise! It is so exciting to see someone looking into this information community! I’ve spent many, many thoughts on incarcerated people and what information resources they have, as they are an often overlooked community in society. I’ve read through your blogs & have already learnt so much. Thank you for choosing this community & good luck on your research paper!