Why Georgia?

Prisons in Georgia require that people obtain permission from the Warden or Warden's designee for each individual title they want to read.

This system, known as "prior approval," makes getting reading materials to people in Georgia prisons challenging. Prior approval forms need to be obtained from staff, the exact titles and authors listed and signatures from administration obtained.

The form is then good only for thirty days. If a book arrives that doesn't exactly match what's written on the form or outside of the 30 day window, facility staff simply--unbelievable as it sounds--put the book in the trash.

Saxapahaw Prison Books aims to both navigate as well as challenge this system. Support our efforts to ensure people incarcerated in Georgia can read by volunteering and donating.

After selecting titles, we need to mail a postcard to incarcerated readers informing them of the exact titles and authors of each selected work so they can fill out their prior approval form. We have to wait to hear their form has been filed before mailing their books. Although we send many books to grateful recipients, sometimes people cannot get their prior approval forms completed. They could be in solitary; they are sometimes told there are no copies of the prior approval paperwork; sometimes they are told they have too many books already. We track these instances in order to challenge prior approval as an undue burden on first amendment rights of both incarcerated readers and booksellers.