By Angelita Faller

GRAMBLING, LA –  As Jack Chandler walked through Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe with his fellow Grambling State University Psychology and Sociology Club members, he was concerned by the state of the prison’s small library.

“We went by the prison library, and we saw that there were very few books there,” he said.

Some of Grambling’s Psychology and Sociology Club members are interested in working with prisoners when they graduate, so Matt Sheptoski, assistant professor of sociology and club adviser, led a trip to tour Richwood Correctional Center in November 2014. What they saw led to a strong desire to help the Richwood prisoners.

“I knew right away we had our next project as soon as I saw the prison library. There was hardly anything there. Before we left that day, we mentioned the idea to the assistant warden and he responded positively,” Sheptoski said.

So the club organized a book drive to collect used books to donate to Richwood’s library. The club has collected 225 books over the past three months. They were boxed up and delivered to Richwood on April 2.

Chandler, a senior psychology major and the club’s president, said the members were “ecstatic” about providing books for Richwood’s inmates.

“Sometimes when people go to jail, people forget about them. We wanted to show them that we didn’t forget about them. If you are in prison, all you have time to do is read, pray and work out, and I would want something good to read,” he said.

The Psychology and Sociology Club is far from finished with this project. In the fall, they plan to issue an HBCU Challenge to the nation’s other Historically Black Colleges and Universities and ask them to replicate Grambling’s book drive for prison libraries by way of a friendly competition, with bragging rights going to the winning club.

“We are happy to be able to do something positive for the community. GSU is known for its commitment to service learning, and we are proud to be a part of that,” Chandler said.

The club is also planning a trip to Caddo Parish Correctional Center in Shreveport to learn more about prison psychological work. The GSU Psychology and Sociology Club meets every Thursday at 11 a.m. in Woodson Hall Room 101.

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