Adding Mystery To Inmates' Lives

By JOSH POLTILOVE The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jul 16, 2007

RIVERVIEW - When Sharon Wedel goes book shopping, she makes sure not to buy true crime books. She also avoids buying literature that teaches people how to make bombs or break out of jail.

A regional librarian for the state Department of Corrections, Wedel is in charge of buying books for 14 correctional and youthful offender institutions - including 16 libraries - in the central Florida region.

"We have to censor, there's not doubt about it," Wedel said as she sat inside Hillsborough Correctional Institution's spacious 7,000-book library this month. "I tend to buy a lot of mysteries so that they can use their minds. People say mysteries have murder in them. Well, yeah, but they're not real descriptive."

Wedel, a corrections employee since 1988, stocks area prisons with books, serves as a consultant for prison librarians and tests prisoners who intend to be law clerks.

Most of the prison facilities statewide have libraries. Wedel said they are great resources for inmates.

"Having an inmate read a book is better than having them sit there contemplating a crime," she said. "We also like when they read nonfiction so they can learn something. When you open doors for them, that helps change their thought process."

The libraries in Wedel's region - including Hillsborough, Pasco and Polk counties - vary widely in size, ranging from about 2,000 to 24,000 books.

Job Requires Plenty Of Knowledge

Wedel stops by each library frequently even though her coverage area extends as far east as Brevard County. She needs to have a broad perspective in book-buying because she represents libraries for death row inmates, men, women, youthful offenders and those just being introduced to the prison system.

"It takes a lot of knowledge to do what she does," said Cathy Pearce, her supervisor. "You can't just pull somebody off the street and do this job, because you have to have knowledge of library services and knowledge of prison security. You have to have a person whose personality allows you to be a good communicator as well as an educator."

When Wedel moved to Florida from Kansas about 21 years ago, she had 10 years' experience as a librarian at Topeka High School.

Reading want ads, she found an opening in 1988 for a librarian at an Orlando prison facility. She got the job and enjoyed it.

From 1997 to 2000, she worked on a literacy program at the library. She trained inmates to tutor other inmates in reading, and several dramatically improved their reading ability, she said.

"It was the best feeling you could ever have in the world," she said. "You know that you might be helping stop a cycle. You hope."

In 2000, the Department of Corrections hired her for a regional librarian post. She said she loves the job and the opportunities it provides to travel throughout the state and help inmates read and change.

She said she's never felt unsafe in a correctional facility.

"We can call for security at any time," she said. "Sometimes I feel safer than I do on the street."

Wedel visited the Hillsborough Correctional Institution, a women's facility in Riverview, last week to test four inmates hoping to be law clerks.

Inmate Sandra Anderson, 53, comes to the library almost every day and often picks out books. Anderson, in jail for elderly neglect, enjoys reading books with religious themes such as the Left Behind series.

"She picks out a good variety of books," Anderson said of Wedel's purchases. "There's no way you can get enough books to satisfy everybody, but I never find it hard to find something to read."

Kathleen Clark, 45, is among the inmates training to become a law clerk. She said Wedel is a great resource.

"She's very knowledgeable about the law," Clark said. "She's strict, and she has high expectations for us."

Crime Books Aren't Missed

Wedel, who has a master's degree in library sciences from Emporia State University in Kansas, shops from about October through May for books for the prison libraries. The libraries typically are budgeted $1,000 to $1,500 from the state, though they often receive additional books through donations, she said.

She bought about 125 books for Hillsborough Correctional Institution in the past year.

Female inmates read more than just romance novels, including thrillers, mysteries and classics, Wedel said. Male inmates tend to read historical fiction or westerns.

"Westerns are the epitome of the macho male," she said. "They're adventurous. They're rugged."

Clark, who is serving time for armed robbery and whose favorite book is "To Kill a Mockingbird," said the library has a good assortment of classic literature. She doesn't have much interest in reading about crime and doesn't mind a lack of true crime books in Hillsborough Correctional's library.

"It's OK that we don't have it," she said. "We've lived it."

SUGGESTED AUTHORS

Sharon Wedel's summer reading suggestions are books by:

•Tim Dorsey

•Randy Wayne White

•Michael Connelly

•Janet Evanovich

•Marian Keyes

To donate books to a prison library, contact Wedel at wedel.sharon@mail .dc.state.fl.us

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.