Access to Justice in Custody: The Critical Role and Constraints of Prison Libraries

It's a basic human right that prisoners have access to books that can help them to prepare a defence, which means that every prison library should hold a number of publications for this purpose. Here Victoria Barnett, who is the Prison Libraries Development Manager, Kent Libraries, and also the Chair of the CILIP Prison Libraries Group, outlines the issues associated with making sure that prisoners are able to access publications, especially at a time when there are huge demands on the time of prison staff. Victoria also discusses some of the other challenges prison libraries face.