Establishing the library began after a mother (Robin Venturelli) used to send books to her son (Hunter Venturelli) while he was incarcerated at Men’s Central Jail or MCJ many years ago. Hunter’s Library used to be located on the 5000 floor of the Men’s Central Jail, but due to the impact of COVID-19, it had to shut down. Thanks to the efforts of inmate services, the library has found a new home within the Men’s Central Jail, and it’s better than ever. MCJ has partnered with the Los Angeles County Library, and now, 90% of its collection comes from public donations, with the remaining 10% contributed by the Los Angeles County Library system.
Assistant Sheriff Sergio Aloma spoke during the event and was joined by Chief Margarita Vazquez, Lieutenant Rafael Rodriguez and Robin Venturelli as they unveiled the new location of the library within Men’s Central Jail.
The Department’s first step was discovering a way to provide reliable reading material to approximately 13,000 incarcerated individuals with limited space and across seven separate facilities in Los Angeles County. The initial step was to install several bookshelves at designated locations within those seven facilities. The Department also came up with the concept of using rolling library carts to use in going back and forth from the other facilities. These rolling carts also made the process much easier for incarcerated inmates to check out books and have them delivered to their individual housing area which vastly increased the libraries accessibility for all. The next grand idea was creating a physical library at Men’s Central Jail which includes many fully-stocked bookshelves, an informational pamphlet area, magazine area and general seating. The goal is to ensure reading material is accessible and to provide a service for the incarcerated individuals.
As the new location of Hunter’s Library was unveiled, the renovated area within Men’s Central Jail now stands a newly stocked library. It was a collaborative effort between the inmate services bureau – education based incarceration unit, MCJ staff, the Los Angeles County Library and a partnership with community members.
The books are restocked every two weeks and during the past year approximately 32,000 reading books have been donated and collected for use. This is great news, and it means the donations are being put immediately to use.
The program hopes to increase the literacy rates, improve the library and information access opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals which often correlates to successful rehabilitation and reentry. The goal of the program is to provide reading material to incarcerated individuals and lower the recidivism rate as an overall goal.
Robin spoke about how she and her son had in-depth discussions about books over the phone like a personal book club while he was incarcerated. She contacted the education based incarceration staff at MCJ and shared her story and vision. She asked if she and her friends could donate books to the inmates and the seeds of this program were planted. She fondly remembered the first book she gave him was “Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand”. In closing, Robin mentioned her son unfortunately passed away in 2022 but she knows her son’s legacy of “Hunter’s Library” will live on in Men’s Central Jail and have a lasting positive impact on all those who pass through the doors.
Details: Follow this link to the Sheriff’s Department website for individuals who want to donate books. https://lacountylibrary.org/books-for-jails/