Czytelnictwo więźniów w Zakładzie Karnym w Rawiczu

Abstrakt

Readership of prisoners in the Rawicz prison

A prison library is an institution intended to provide convicts with access to literature, culture, and education. In Poland, the approach to functions of prisons and prison libraries changed with political system transformation. After 1989 the penology was modified from the repressive model to the reha­bilitative one. Prisoners can participate in cultural events, such as theatre performances, book clubs and prison newspapers publishing. Such involvement should be based on well-equipped library supervised by aqualified librarian. The reality is different, but statistics of Central Statistical Office of Poland GUS reveal that prison libraries in Poland are constantly developing. The author of the work conducted the survey in the prison in Rawicz aimed at the exploration of prisoners’ readership. The analysis involved 50 individuals. According to the study’s results, convicts consider the library as anecessary institution, which they use willingly. Most of the respondents admitted that they read books, while almost all of them reported reading the press. The most popular literary genres among the surveyed turned out to be fantastic and detective stories.