By Maria Glod
Washington Post
Virginia inmates will once again be able to receive free Bibles, dictionaries and other books from a nonprofit group, after state prison officials reversed a recent decision to ban the popular Books Behind Bars program.
The 20-year-old effort, run by the Quest Institute in Charlottesville, was halted last month after prison officials said security risks were too great and the influx of books created too much work for busy corrections officers.
But after protests from supporters, Department of Corrections Director Gene M. Johnson said he will allow Books Behind Bars -- which has put as many as a million books in prison cells statewide -- to resume. In a Sept. 15 letter to Kay Allison, the program’s founder, Johnson said each inmate could request up to three books per month.
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