August 2011 Update

Featured from left are:  3R Project Volunteer Barbara Kessel, IDOC Librarian/Training Coordinator Maria Nachtwey, 3R Chapter Volunteers: Phil Fiscella, Martha Plog and Liz Abraham, IDOC Office of Adult Education and Vocational Services Administrator Christine Boyd, and 3R Chapter Volunteer Esther Portnoy.

On August 17, 2011, the four Three R’s people from Champaign-Urbana (in photo above) went to Springfield to meet with Illinois Department of Corrections administrators: Dr. Christine Boyd and Maria Nachtwey, heading up adult education and libraries, respectively. Also present was our chapter chair from Springfield for Decatur Women’s Correctional center, Martha Plog.

We had a very congenial discussion of possibilities: for getting newspaper subscriptions from larger cities into some of the prison libraries that are no longer getting them, for getting into prisons as reading circle mentors, and for getting voc. ed. textbooks from high schools to the nearest prison for adult education, (We have had some offers of books).

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