Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Correctional Education
Abstract
Academic library services are a crucial, yet chronically under-resourced component of prison education programs (PEPs). This perpetuates systemic information inequity when compared to traditional higher education campuses. This article argues that sustainable, standards-aligned academic library services within carceral higher education partnerships must be reconceived as foundational infrastructure, not as auxiliary support. Multiple interconnected barriers impede meaningful access: restrictions on technology imposed by departments of corrections, which extends the digital chasm for students who are incarcerated because it limits or eliminates access to the over 80% of academic library holdings that are in digital form; the inadequacy of existing prison library materials for rigorous academic research; and the near-nonexistence of synchronous reference interactions, which diminishes the student’s educational experience, agency, information literacy development, and capacity for self-directed inquiry. In total, these hurdles create the deficit conditions that higher education is meant to ameliorate. Drawing upon existing professional literature and standards, framed by the context of the United States, specifically Michigan, and using the Michigan Consortium for Higher Education in Prison (MiCHEP) as a model, this article calls for embedding explicit academic library provisions in memoranda of understanding between higher education providers and correctional leadership. By adopting clear language and a tiered “good, better, best” model, incremental progress is supported that pursues coordination at the consortial and state levels. This is accomplished in conjunction with updating national and international library standards documents that meaningfully address carceral higher education contexts. Framed within an educational justice paradigm, this article contends that equitable library access is inseparable from the broader promise of transformative, degree-granting education for students who are incarcerated.
First Page
42
Last Page
55
Publication Date
9-2026
Recommended Citation
Fiero, Jen, Jessica Hronchek, Sarah McClure Kolk, and David B. Malone. “A Call for Sustainable Library Standards and Practices for Prison Education Programs (PEPs).” Journal of Correctional Education (1974-) 77, no. 3 (2026): 42–55. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48894804.