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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife prisoner's advocate says there is not a lot to keep inmates busy these days now that the jail's library has been removed.

Lydia Bardak, who works with the John Howard Society and is also a city councillor, said she heard the North Slave Correctional Centre shelved its library when a remanded inmate asked her what kind of correspondence courses he could take.

Yellowknifer columnist Walt Humphries was surprised to discover a number of books from the North Slave Correctional Centre at the dump a couple weeks ago. - Herb Mathisen/NNSL photo to

It was around the same time Yellowknifer columnist Walt Humphries discovered hundreds of books dumped at the city landfill just over two weeks ago.

Bardak said she told the inmate he should stock up on library books while she had a look at what correspondence courses were available. The inmate said there was no longer a library.

"They got rid of the books and the teacher was able to save about a book shelf's worth," said Bardak.

She said there was a small room upstairs at the jail which stored hundreds of books but it has now been converted into a staff office.

"The inmate advisory committee and me, we used to meet in the library," she said. "I was there. I saw it. I wasn't dreaming. "The centre says they don't have enough room for a library. All they need is a place to store the books."

But Eric Kieken, warden at the North Slave Correctional Centre, said the centre doesn't and has never housed a library and hasn't heard of any interest from inmates to start one.

Kieken acknowledged the existence of the room referred to by Bardak – in the centre's pastoral wing – but he said it was never a bona fide library and the jail isn't designed for one. The room was originally a meeting room for the centre's padre and has been converted back into just that.

Kieken said the centre has "a couple hundred books" shelved in individual living areas.

"We do rotations of books and people get the chance to read them," he said.

However, he said there are no personal study areas.

"There is no place that an inmate could go and sit at a study table or a reading table, like you would have in a larger facility," he said.

He said there are classrooms where a teacher instructs inmates through a basic literacy program. They can also apply to take English 20 and 30 programs by correspondence.

"We encourage reading through the classroom," he said.

Humphries said he heard about the dumped books at the landfill from friends.

"They said originally, it was like somebody emptied a library," he said, adding they numbered in the three to four hundred vicinity.

Humphries took home four hardcover books: a romance novel and a couple science fiction reads that looked to be in pretty good shape.

He said there were history, biology and books of all sorts out there.

When News/North visited his home last Tuesday, each of the books he had on his kitchen table had 'Yellowknife Corrections' stamped on them, with ripped-up Yellowknife Public Library cards on the inside covers.

He said it troubled him to see books from the jail wind up at the dump.

"If I was in jail, I'd certainly be reading a lot," he said, adding books provide both escapism and an avenue for inmates to learn and advance their literacy.

Kieken said the fact that "Yellowknife Correctional" was stamped on them shows just how dated the books are, as they came from the old Yellowknife Correctional Centre, which closed down in the spring of 2004.

"They are dated by virtue of being stamped that way," he said. The centre does not buy its books, but receives donations and Kieken said when the centre gets overwhelmed with books, they get rid of damaged, over-circulated and out of date reads.

He cited dated reference books from the 1970s or self-help books from companies that no longer existed as some of the materials the centre gets rid of.

Nonetheless, Bardak said it surprised her to hear books from the jail had wound up in the landfill.

She said the loss of the library is yet another hit to inmates at the centre where tobacco is being banned April 1.

"It's a sin," she sighed.

Sidebar
What happens to "orphaned" books in Yellowknife?

Tanya Krueger hates to see a book thrown away as much as anyone else.

"Nobody wants to see a book lost," she said.

Krueger, a member of the city's Friends of the Public Library committee, is one of a few Yellowknifers tasked with finding a home for books donated to the library but are unsuitable for inclusion in its catalogue.

She said there aren't places that sell used books since Squatterz Books and Curiosities and the Boy Scouts book stores closed down.

She said the library receives donations from organizations and the public year round and the committee has accumulated thousands of books.

Twice a year – in the spring and fall – the books are put up for sale in the library boardroom. The next sale will be held from April 16 to 19.

However, thousands of books still go begging after the sales. Krueger said they are delivered to organizations like the womens' shelter, Stanton Territorial Hospital and the North Slave Correctional Centre.

Eric Kieken , the correctional centre's warden, said the facility accepts donations from the public and the library. It does not buy its own books.

In 2006, the Boy Scouts donated hundreds of books to the facility after their used book store shut down.

However, when too many books pile up, correctional staff also has to get rid of dated, damaged or unwanted books.

Kieken said they try to give books away to local organizations but sometimes – either due to subject matter, datedness or condition of the books – they can't find any takers and are forced to take them to the dump.

"We do make efforts to see if we can find somebody else," he said.

"A lot of people do not want used books."

Krueger said schools are asked if they want books but often time they are turned down because their subject matter is irrelevant or dated.

Yellowknifer columnist Walt Humphries recently discovered books at the dump that came from the correctional centre, which were originally library books.

He thought instead of throwing them out, the books could get sent out to schools in communities around the NWT which may need them.

Krueger said she thought it was a good idea, but not financially possible for the volunteer organization.

"All we can do is bring them in and around Yellowknife."

"Books weigh a ton and to get them into other communities can be a barrier," she said.

Krueger added if an organization wanted to partner to deliver books to communities, she would be delighted.

Lydia Bardak, a justice advocate with the John Howard Society, had a creative idea to get books into communities.

She suggested when correctional staff accompany a remanded prisoner to a funeral in a community, they could take a couple boxes of books with them.