Prison Book Program is an American non-profit organization that sends free books to people in prison.[1] While the organization is based in Massachusetts, it mails packages of books to people in prisons in 45 U.S. states, as well as Puerto Rico and Guam.[2] The program receives letters from people in prison asking for specific titles or genres, which volunteers use to put together a package of books chosen from a small library of donated books.[3] The organization is run out of the basement of the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts.[4] Kelly Brotzman currently serves as Executive Director.
Prison Book Program was started in 1972 by volunteers working out of the Red Book Store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a leftist bookstore. From 1982-2000, the program was housed in the basement of the Red Sun Press, a print shop in Jamaica Plain. In 2000, volunteers moved to a space in downtown Boston before settling in PBP's current headquarters in the basement of the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts in 2004.