The state of Illinois has announced funding for state prison libraries amounting to $420,000.
Fifteen thousand dollars will be given to each of the state’s 28 and will be used for books, magazines and other supplies. Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias notes it is the most significant investment in prison libraries since the 1980s and the first time in six years that the libraries have received any public funding at all.
The $420,000 in grants to the state Department of Corrections represents about 7% of Illinois’ $5.7 million allotment this year. The rest goes to community libraries.
