In 2003 Ann Walmsley (she/her) was mugged as she walked home in England. Choked to the point of blacking out, Walmsley was traumatized by the experience. But eight years later, living in Canada, her book club friend Carol asks Walmsley to give advice on which books Carol should have her other book club — one in a men’s prison — read, Walmsley agrees. Yes, she’s bookish, and recommendations give her some distance from the murderers, muggers, and robbers she fears. But soon enough, Walmsley is heading inside the prison to be part of the book club, a book club she remains in for eighteen months. The result of her experience is the memoir/journalistic work The Prison Book Club.
At first, I was thinking The Prison Book Club had everything that I had wanted from Reading Lolita in Tehran. Each book was summarized and discussed by Carol, Walmsley, and a few featured book club members. In this way, the reader gets what feels like a natural conversation they can comfortably enter, even if they have not read the book assigned. Walmsley progresses from one book to the next, interjecting scenes with her and Carol attending their women’s book club in the homes of wealthy white women, and some descriptions of nature (which I felt did not fit). Walmsley has about four favorite inmates with whom she meets individually in the prison chapel to discuss the books further. Eventually, these four are released, and, not surprisingly due to readily available statistics, end up back in prison. Walmsley quits the book club once her four favorites are released.
Biscuit and I read The Prison Book Club together, and both of us had loads of concerns based on our own experiences working in prisons (me in Indiana, her in Michigan). Firstly, you can never, never have favorite prisoners or show special favors. You can’t even give an inmate a stick of gum. This is how you become manipulated, and it’s easy for prisoners to contact people on the outside to blackmail you, find info about your children, etc. Secondly, how was Walmsley visiting her favorite prisoners one-on-one when it wasn’t visitation? We felt this was unfair to families that must wait for special visitation days/hours, and further supported our claim that the author had favorites (we didn’t really need support; Walmsley stated it clearly).
Furthermore, both Walmsley and Carol made many inappropriate and possibly dangerous mistakes, such as passing messages between prisoners in different correctional facilities and telling their prison book club members that all participants in their personal book club were women in their twenties (*insert waggling eyebrows*). Walmsley is constantly asking the inmates, “What crime did you do??” Completely inappropriate. And doesn’t it feel like digging for information?
Also, as the conversation went on about a book, Carol would tell the inmates that they showed excellent personal growth and self-analysis, which I also felt was inappropriate. She’s not a social worker, psychologist, or case manager. Would you want your book club members to tell you how big you’ve grown? Sooooo big! Carol and Walmsley repeatedly tried to get the inmates to recognize “heroic” behavior in every book they read, and it got to the point when it felt less like a book club and more like a class on good behaviors. All I’m saying is if you start a book club, be a book club.
So, am I (and Biscuit) criticizing The Prison Book Club author instead of the book? Yes and no. The problem is Walmsley rather romanticizes the inmates, possibly causing readers to feel “oh, these poor prisoners” or suggesting that doing a book club in prison is right, just, and fairly easy to do. The truth is in our experience, any volunteer work inside a prison requires an extensive background and drug check, and at least two days of self-defense training that you must re-do yearly because you are, indeed, entering a dangerous situation. That’s on a normal day. Lock downs, solitary confinement, confiscated books, etc. are all problems you may face.
I know people get mad that it’s hard to send books to prisons, but part of that is individuals outside will put drugs on the book pages and the inmate will eat the paper. Hardcover books can be turned into shivs and body armor. What I’m not saying is that prisons and the judicial system work just fine, but what I am saying is running into a prison with a big heart and a social justice-oriented mind isn’t a great idea. Walmsey seems to imply books will heal all.
Once we reached the end of The Prison Book Club, we had one big concern: although Walmsley was afraid to enter the prison because she had been mugged, she got permission to tape record every book club and individual meeting from when she first entered until she quit only eighteen months later, despite waxing eloquent about how she loves prison book club and prefers it to her women’s book club with fancy cheese (yes, she mentions the fancy cheese). She also had several inmates writing personal journals and then giving them to Walmsley to read! From my and Biscuit’s different experiences, we know inmates cannot legally consent to something like being recorded, nor are any employees or volunteers allowed to make money off the inmates, such as writing a book about them. We truly felt that Ann Walmsley jumped into the book club, took notes, got the personal journals of several inmates, recorded prisoners, and jumped ship when she was able to compile enough for a whole book. The back of the book calls her a “daring journalist.” We call her opportunistic.
CW: book opens with physical violence during a mugging and their are mentions of gun violence and murder as Walmsley continues to ask the book club inmates what they did to end up in prison.
Grab the Lapels 
Wait so this is based on a true story??
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This is a true story, yes, a memoir. I taught in a prison for a year, so it’s interesting to see how engaged the students could be with various topics. However, the prison where I taught had a very strict rule about not writing about your experiences/profiting off of the prisoners. To do that, you have to get written consent from…it was either the warden of that prison or the Indiana Department of Corrections. Prisoners are considered a vulnerable population, hence the regulations.
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This is really interesting Melanie. I don’t have personal experience, like you and Biscuit, of prisons but, yes, I’ve read a bit, knew a prison officer once, and have seen enough prison documentaries for all you say here to make sense.
I’m sure my mum really enjoyed this book but sadly she’s not here for me to discuss the issues you raise. It may be that she enjoyed the book discussions. She was a realist, not a romantic person, so I can’t imagine she was taken in by what seems to be some unrealistic stuff here .
Anyhow, I really enjoyed your discussion of this book.
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It IS interesting to get insight on what other people think about books and the themes that come up, but the whole project in Prison Book Club has some ethical issues.
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Sounds like it.
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Wow, this sounds all kinds of problematic. Was it a minimum security prison? Could that account for some of the ease with which she could interact with the inmates? It does sound rather opportunistic. does she even say anything about her own mugging experience and how working with prisoners helped her heal? Is she interested in criminal justice and prison reform? Or is this all just about her? Very upsetting if it’s just about her.
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I believe one prison was medium security and the other was minimum, but you still can’t just visit however you want whenever you want. I’ve read about some really ambitious social justice folks who want to go into prisons and demand things without knowing why those things are even banned in the first place. For instance, many people get quite angry that we can’t send donated books to prisons. Yet, it’s common for people to put drugs on the pages of the books and then prisoners eat those. Or, a hard cover book can be turned into a shiv, etc. Some prisons don’t even allow cards (birthday, Christmas, etc) into the facility because an adult will put drugs on the paper, have a little kid draw their mom or dad in prison a picture, and then send this seemingly-sweet card to the facility.
I don’t think this lady was interested in criminal justice reform. She seemed overly eager but also at arm’s length, which was an odd combo that made me think she was there to get a book out of it.
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I knew about hardcover books and also blank journal books because we have a nonprofit here called Women’s Prison Book Project who take book donations for women in prison and they are very specific about paperback only, etc. I had no idea about putting drugs on paper and licking them. Wow. There are a lot of things wrong about prison, but some rules are not arbitrary.
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A lot of the rules are for the safety of everyone, and so it’s hard to hear about something related to a child (a diaper, a crayon drawing, etc) that is not allowed into the facility because to the public it looks mean. My mom was telling me in the state of Michigan there are no cards allowed at all. During COVID letters, etc. would be photocopied and then the inmate would get the copy.
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I gave up on this book. There was something about the tone that didn’t sit right with me. I don’t have your knowledge about the prison system to know how far she transgressed the key principles of engagement but her interactions did feel intrusive.
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I’m glad someone else saw what we noticed. Sometimes I’m worried that I’m picking at an author, but prisoners are considered part of a vulnerable population because they are easy to exploit, so it was an issue for me. Biscuit also sees more of the violence of prisons, so for her, the focus was more about all the personal meetings and bringing in things that weren’t allowed that was worrisome.
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My first thought about prison is always, “What if I can’t have books” (OK, after, “Am I brave enough to use the communal showers?”). Years ago, one of my drivers was given six months after a fatal accident when I thought he shouldn’t have been. I visited him, but that was as close as I’ve got. So far. But I agree with you, the author’s behaviour sounds problematic.
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The reasons books can’t be sent directly to prisoners is often drugs and turning books into weapons, both of which make things unsafe for everyone. Sometimes Biscuit tells me stories of stabbings, riots, etc. that happened, and I’ll argue that the rules are in place for good reason. I know people want to donate books to prisons, but you gotta wonder how much good would we be doing if we made the facility more dangerous for staff and inmates PLUS people weren’t even using the books to read. Typically, prisoners can order books directly through certain distributors.
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Oh my goodness, this sounds so problematic and I hope this review is easily findable when people search for this book – are you able to put it on Amazon etc as it feels really important (I know all our reviews are important in their own way, but this is societally important).
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It’s an older book, so I’m not sure if folks are searching for it frequently. I found it at a used book store a few years ago myself. But I do understand your concern.
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Yikes! I mean, you really shouldn’t play favourites if you’re an instructor in any capacity, let alone a prison. I appreciate your unique perspective on this one because there are probably issues here that I wouldn’t have been aware of. It does sound exploitative in the end.
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I know the folks who want to donate books to prisons are passionate and caring, but there are so many ways they can make the space unsafe for themselves, other inmates, and staff. Whether it’s drugs on the paper that they eat, turning a hardcover book into a shiv, etc., there’s problems. People will put drugs in their baby’s diaper and try to get the baby through security to visit an inmate, which is why many facilities make you change the diaper upon entry using a diaper they give you.
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That sort of desperation is really sad. I would’t think of drugs on the paper of books or in a diaper but I’ve never been in that situation. I think from the outside perspective it’s hard to know what to do or how to help a flawed system and giving things seems like an obvious and simple answer.
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Don’t feel bad. My mom’s car was in a crime scene outside her workplace several years ago, and I always knew the story that they took her car to the car wash and then let her go home, but I could never figure out why they took the car to the car wash. I realized just recently it was because there was blood all over it. I don’t think our brains are designed to think about horrible things like that.
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Anything that I know about prison comes second hand. My old coworker’s dad worked in a prison her entire life. He never wore his wedding ring and he never told anyone that he had kids. That feels like how I would prefer to handle the environment if I worked there. (I have seen prison pharmacy tech jobs come up and no thanks!)
Who quits their favorite book club after a mere 18 months? Unless it’s to capitalize on it. Shady!
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Yeah, you don’t tell anyone you have a spouse, kids, a pet, nothing about the area you live in. The prison where I taught suggested you not even tell people your first name. Everyone is Mr. or Ms. Last Name.
I will say oftentimes the folks coming for medicine in the prison are the ones who may seem scarier, too. They need that medicine.
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D:
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Yikes on a bike this sounds problematic, for all of the reasons you pointed out. Idealizing prison is always a big red flag! I love the idea of power of books, and I believe they can heal people, but not in the way this woman seems to be suggesting…
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I don’t think I’ve heard “Yikes on bikes” since the last time I watched Wreck-It Ralph, Anne. LOL.
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I saw it on twitter a few months back – and I steal people’s sayings all the time; as you well know! LOL
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Great review! It was especially interesting due to the background info you and Biscuit have from volunteering in prisons. You guys clearly picked up on things due to your own knowledge and experiences in that field that probably would have went right over my head regarding strict no-no’s and the other rules and regulations.
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It’s true! People have strong opinions about prisons. One group wants the inmates to suffer as much as possible, and the other sees almost every inmate as a victim of a broken system. Biscuit works in a prison, and I think she’s been there 8-9 years at this point? She’s seen a lot of scary stuff at her job.
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