Per a press release:
Since 2006, when Books to Prisoners started keeping computerized records, volunteers have sent 93,811 books to 27,149 inmates in Illinois facilities. Books are sent in response to letters written by inmates. The letters are read by volunteers who answer requests with books donated by people in our community. The most requested books are dictionaries. Books to Prisoners pays for postage and for packing materials with funds raised at books sales; these sales are held twice per year in the spring and the fall. Shipping costs for books run about $1,000 per month. Books to Prisoners also buys dictionaries since they do not collect enough to keep up with demand. Last year the organization spent $2853 on dictionarie; paperback dictionaries are preferred because some prisons and local county jails do not permit hardcover books and because hardcovers are heavier and more expensive to ship. In addition to sending books to prisons, Books to Prisoners staffs and stocks lending libraries in both the downtown Urbana jail and the newer satellite jail.
UC Books to Prisoners is sponsoring a used book sale April 4 through 6, 2014. The sale will be located at the IMC in the downtown Urbana Post Office building at 202 S. Broadway. Admission is free, and the hours will be 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 5; 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 6; and 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 6. Sunday is a Bag/Box Sale, during which book lovers may fill a standard-sized grocery bag with books for just $5.00. UC Books to Prisoners is a not-for-profit project that provides recycled books free of charge to Illinois inmates and operates lending libraries at the local jails. For more information, check out the Books to Prisoners website.