A great milestone here: PLP sent out more than 800 book packages in September 2015, and it’s all down to you!

As you’re reading the new Prisoners Literature Project website here, you might have the impression that we’re trying to better ourselves. Which we are! Our backlog of letters from prisoners all over the U.S. has been reduced from over four months since received to around two months, and we’re trying to get even less far behind.

In case you’re wondering about the math for around 800 book packages – which is probably around 2,000 books in total sent out in just one month – that’s taking into account 12 books per postal bin, and around 17 postal bins per week. Which is a LOT of books, right? Massive thanks to all the volunteers and donors that are making this increased pace possible.

Going forward, we’re going to update regularly on how close we are to catching up on answering letters and sending books out to prisoners – and with 30+ prisoner letters received daily, it’s certainly a bit of a Sysiphean task. (We tell the prisoners to expect a delay of 2-4 months, so it’s expected.)

In the meantime, if you’d like to help us increase our velocity even further, you can donate money or books to us – recurring monthly donations particularly appreciated – or turn up and volunteer with us if you live in the Bay Area.