Book Clubs for Inmates
Jock Mackenzie | Article and Photos
Two young inmates sat beside me, one on either side. The one on my left was
laughing — no, guffawing. The one on my right was eyeing me curiously — having
just said, “Did you teach at Eastview Middle School?” The guffawer said, “Hey, you
used to teach him and now he’s in jail!”
Where was I? In a meeting room
at ‘The Annex,’ the minimum
security section of the Bowden
Institution. What was going
on? It was our monthly book
club meeting. Who was there?
Three volunteers, one institution
librarian, and fourteen inmates.
The inmates on either side of me
were two new members, and I
had taught the young lad on my
right. By our next meeting, both
had been released.
Over the course of the last
year and a bit, my wife and I
have volunteered for Book Clubs
For Inmates (BCFI) — and the
pros have defi nitely outweighed
the cons. A club in the medium
security section of the prison has
existed for more than three years.
18 | arta.net
When an inmate was moved to
the minimum security section,
he asked, “So where’s the book
club?” There wasn’t one. We were
asked to start Bowden’s second
club — and what a learning
experience it has been.
The founder, Carol Finlay, fl ew
out from Ontario because yet
another BCFI was about to start
at the Drumheller Institution.
This would make four in Alberta
— the other at the Pe Sakastew
Healing Centre in Maskwacis.
Offi cially the Rev. Dr. Carol
Finlay, Order of Ontario,
Meritorious Service Medal, but
hardly offi cious, Carol shared her
passion for books. She told us of
BCFI’s twelve-year history, its
goal to be in every prison in the
country, and the importance it
played in so many lives.
And so the journey began.
We joined over thirty-six clubs
spread from Nova Scotia to
British Columbia. In our club,
the volunteers and inmates share
the responsibilities: usually, an
inmate volunteers to lead the
evening’s discussion; another
off ers to bake cookies or squares;
we always bring a box of Tim
Hortons coff ee.
The books? For each year, the
volunteer ‘head offi ce’ staff in
Ontario provide an annotated list
of over seventy-fi ve books and we
(volunteers and inmates) choose
the next twelve. We’ve read
fi ction, non-fi ction, Canadian
literature, fantasy, western,