The UC Books to Prisoners program is the largest provider of books to incarcerated people in the state of Illinois.

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) — The UC Books to Prisoners program is the largest provider of books to incarcerated people in the state of Illinois.

UC Books to Prisoners provides books to state prisons and the Champaign Juvenile Detention Center. They also run the library at the Champaign County Jail. 

Julia Cronin, Volunteer Director, said the program is vital to increasing literacy.

"People in prison need books for the same reason that anyone else needs a book," she said. "A big part of that is just giving them a little bit of agency about, what do you want to read?"

This weekend, the organization will host their bi-annual book sale, where they will sell any books they cannot send to prisoners. There are strict restrictions on what books can be sent to incarcerated individuals. 

Cronin said the event is a huge undertaking. 

"We have probably 300 boxes of books in the basement that need to come up to this first floor, so Thursday, we will have about two dozen undergraduate volunteers who will form a human chain down our stairwell and pass the books upstairs," said Cronin. "And then Friday, our volunteers will spend all day organizing and basically building a bookstore in this empty room." 

The book sale runs Saturday, April 11 from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at 202 S Broadway Ave in Urbana. Books are priced $1 to $2 (with the exception of specially priced books), and all proceeds go towards funding UC Books to Prisoners.

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