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The Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, Minn., is the state's only prison for women. The facility opened in 1986 and has a population of nearly 650 offenders of all custody levels. Offenders have access to a variety of academic and vocational educational opportunities, and MINNCOR Industries provides fullor part-time work for the offender population. Many inmates also work on institution maintenance crews and in food service.
One Saturday a month, a group of female inmates at Shakopee gathers to discuss the most recent book they have read. In many ways, it is a typical book club - the genre of the book choice changes each month, and the number of participants varies each week. While a book club may not seem all that unique of a program for a state prison, the idea behind it is part of an overall, comprehensive approach that Shakopee takes to offender programming, making it a notable case for the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
What makes Shakopee particularly unique, according to Warden Tracy Beltz, is the fact that female offenders in Minnesota have nowhere else to go in the state except the Shakopee facility. Having all female offenders under the same roof is a major factor that allows Shakopee staff to focus on a comprehensive "transition from prison to the community" (TPC) philosophy, and to meet TPC's four main goals of utilizing valid risk/needs assessment, seamless case planning, effective interventions and collaboration with stakeholders. "Our mantra is, 'we do it all here,"' Beltz said of Shakopee's approach - and that is represented by something as simple as a book club.
Book Club
Shakopee's book club is in its sixth year, says Facility Librarian Andrea Smith, who came up with the idea in 2007 and has remained the club's organizer of it since then. "We had never had anything like that going on," Smith said. "It was just a small place where [offenders] would congregate and look for books. I wanted it to look and act more like a public library." After the first few months, Smith said it became clear that the book club was something in which offenders had a consistent interest. Since then, the monthly event has averaged between 12 and 18 participants each meeting, and some larger...