More than 2,000 books were collected within a campaign entitled “Donate a Book for a Penitentiary” whose results were summed up at the National Library. These were donated by readers of the National Library and will be passed on to four national penitentiaries, IPN reports.
According to the National Library’s director Elena Pintilei, most of the books form part of the belles letters genre. It is literature about personal development, business, jurisprudence. The books will be distributed to Penitentiary No. 13 of Chisinau, Penitentiary No. 3 of Leova, Penitentiary No. 9 of Pruncul and the Therapeutically Community “Catharsis” in Pruncul. “We managed to mobilize the community. The people were very receptive to this sociocultural project. We think that this way we can contribute to the formation and direction of persons in detention, especially to their social inclusion,” stated Elena Pintilei.
Vladimir Cojocaru, acting director of the National Administration of Penitentiaries, said it is opportune for the penitentiary libraries to renew their book stock. “Let’s create that hope for the better for persons held in jails. Let’s create imaginary windows through these books so that they encourage each other that they need to enrich the knowledge in different areas of interest of those who are in the custody of the penitentiary system,” he stated.
Eugeniu Caraman, director of Penitentiary No. 3 of Leova, said that three years ago when he took up his ditties, the jail’s library looked more like a book storeroom. Last year, with the assistance of the international partners, the library was reconstructed and the given campaign will also help enrich its book stock.
Penitentiary employee Rodica Verdeș, who is involved in the education of detainees, said reading drives away monotony. “The detainees and we saw that when reading a book, the negative thoughts fade away and the spirits improve and helps the prisoners go through the period that they spend in jail,” stated Rodica Verdeș.
Eduard Timofei, director of Penitentiary No. 9 of Pruncul, said that a separate area for the books collected within the campaign will be set up at their jail. Adrian Ionashko, head of the social reintegration section of the same penitentiary, noted that he works with former drug addicts and alcoholics and these are ardent readers. Reading forms part of their life, their daily program.
The campaign “Donate a Book for a Penitentiary” was conducted between February 1 and March 1, 2020.
