Transforming Lives Through Literature: Our Book Clubs
Our book clubs encourage positive change through the power of literature. We help inmates develop pro-social skills, such as respectful listening and speaking; as inmates read and discuss literature, they also develop stronger reading and communication skills. All these together help them make meaningful life changes and reintegrate more successfully into the community upon release.
Led by our community volunteers, our book clubs meet once a month to discuss themes such as identity, adversity, forgiveness, and resilience, and how these relate to the inmates’ lives. Through these themes, inmates from radically different walks of life and lived experiences engage in dialogue together, building empathy and broader world views.
Expand the Reach of Recovery
While we facilitate dozens of book clubs from coast to coast, many federal and provincial institutions remain without these vital spaces for growth. Your support helps us provide high-quality literature and trained facilitators to every corner of Canada, ensuring that regardless of geography, every incarcerated individual has the chance to redefine their future through the power of reading.
Help Build Our NetworkOur Book Clubs
From Nova Scotia to British Columbia, Book Clubs for Inmates operates in federal and provincial penitentiaries across Canada. Our reach spans minimum, medium, and maximum-security institutions, ensuring that, regardless of location or security level, incarcerated individuals have access to the transformative power of literature and the community of a book club.
Our book clubs can be found in the following institutions:
Image source: Wiki Commons
Alberta
- Bowden Institution
- Minimum security book club
- Medium security book club
- Indigenous book club
- Drumheller Institution
- Minimum security book club
- Indigenous book club
- Edmonton Institution for Women
- Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre
- Men’s book club
- Women’s book club
- Pe Sakastew Healing Centre
- Red Deer Remand Centre
Image source: Wiki Commons
British Columbia
- Ford Mountain Correctional Centre
- Fraser Valley Institution for Women
- Kwikwexwelhp Healing Villages
- Mission Institution
- Minimum security book club
- Medium security book club
- Mountain Institution
- Pacific Institution
- William Head Institution
Image source: Wiki Commons
Manitoba
- Stony Mountain
- Minimum security book club
- Medium security book club
- Stony Mountain Structured Intervention Unit
Image source: Wiki Commons
New Brunswick
- Dorchester Penitentiary
- Minimum security book club
- Medium security book club
Image source: Wiki Commons
Newfoundland
- Her Majesty’s Penitentiary
Image source: Wiki Commons
Nova Scotia
- Nova Institution for Women
- Minimum security book club
- Medium security book club
- Structured Interventions Unit (SIU) book club
Image source: Wiki Commons
Ontario
- Bath Institution
- Beaver Creek Institution
- Minimum security book club
- Medium security book club
- Central East Correctional Centre
- Collins Bay Institution
- Minimum security book club
- Medium security book club
- Maximum security book club
- Ethnocultural book club
- Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre
- Grand Valley Institution for Women
- Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre
- Joyceville Institution
- Joyceville Assessment Unit book club
- Medium security book club
- Millhaven Institution
- Native Mens Residence
- Quinte Detention Centre
- Men’s book club
- Women’s book club
- South West Detention Centre
- Vanier Centre for Women
- Warkworth Institution
Image source: Wiki Commons
Quebec
- Archambault Institution
- Centre de réadaptation pour les jeunes en difficulté d’adaptation de la Cité-des-Prairies
- Cowansville Institution
- English book club
- French book club
- Federal Training Centre, Multi-Level Security
- Joliette Institution
- English book club
- French book club
- Regional Reception Centre
Image source: Wiki Commons
Saskatchewan
- Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge
- Regional Psychiatric Centre
- Saskatchewan Hospital Integrated Correctional Facility
