ABOUT US
Providence Books Through Bars is a grass-roots, 501c3 non-profit, entirely volunteer program. We send books to men and women in prison all over the country. Inmates write to us requesting books, and we respond as best we can. We send incarcerated people everything from mysteries, classics, fantasy novels and dictionaries, to books on science, history, psychology and learning a trade. Programs like ours are essential because most prisons do not allow individuals to send books to prisoners (books must come directly from a book store, online retailer or other entity). Moreover, many prisoners do not have the resources to purchase books, nor do they have access to the Internet, so ordering books online is impossible for them.
Almost all of our books are donated, as is the space we use, courtesy of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Apponaug Village, Warwick. (PBTB is an independent non-denominational organization). Postage is our biggest expense (it costs $5.61 to send a three-pound package by media mail). We send out roughly 1,500 packages yearly (most packages contain 2-4 books). We have a small group of core volunteers, as well as many others who volunteer occasionally, or donate books or funds.
PBTB was founded in 2003 by Dirt Palace, a Providence feminist artists’ collective. It moved in 2008 to the Unitarian Universalist Bell Street Chapel. From 2012 to early 2022, it was housed in the converted South Providence garage of one of our members. In April 2022, PBTB relocated to its current location in Warwick on the lower floor of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church.
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