Tillman County Jail receives donation Tillman County Jail receives donation

The Tillman County Jail in Frederick received a book donation from the World Book Bank.

The facility can house 60 inmates. It’s the last place anyone wants to end up. It’s not a typical vacation spot, but for some, it’s a recurring getaway for repeat offenders.

For others, it’s the ultimate low and attaches a stigma that can be a difficult burden to carry. For some, it’s the beginning of the only life they know — incarceration.

The books given to the jail can educate and help inmates live a better life by providing a direction in life. The books received by Tillman County Jail were cases of “Purpose Driven Life” and “Mentor: The Kid and The CEO.”

The World Book Bank sends out books to jails just like Tillman County Jail as a way to take action toward a problem that has gone unnoticed. Prisons’ revolving doors, the rise of the prison population and the rate of people going back is an ongoing issue. With more than 2 million people locked up in the United States, many are going to come back into society.

Some are young individuals who are rebellious with no direction that may come to believe that a certain lifestyle is all they can go back to. The tragic part is that this area is overlooked but the facts are hard to deny. According to a 2014 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the recidivism rate is 68 percent.

There is a lack of education and positive literature to fill the minds of men and women in jail. For many, life is harsh and it can rob a person of direction and positive outlook. Book donations help this problem by providing tools and positive information to help a person live a better life and to give him or her a sense of purpose.

This benefits the community and helps those in need of direction, filling the prisons with love, peace, inspiration and a new way of life. The vision is to help those who do not have the information that could transform their lives, give them the ability to help themselves and continue on a path to success, and to prepare those who will come back into society, which presents a better option to inmates.

World Book Bank in Oklahoma City and is devoted to giving away educational, personal development and spiritual books to jails, prisons, juvenile detention centers, schools and churches. The group has given away more than 950,000 books. 100,000 of those books have remained in the Oklahoma City area. The organization recently gave a case of books to the Tillman County Jail, but that is just one of the 1207 facilities that have received books.

Rehabilitation in jails is limited and it is a time when many are at their lowest. Some will be back in society one day. The book donation mission is to impact and changes lives, decreasing the number of men and women who are incarcerated and give them the tools to live a better and successful life.

Thousands of letters are sent to World Book Bank from those whose lives have been affected from the reading material given to them. Board President Tom Pace has written “Mentor: The Kid and the CEO,” a story of a young man turning his life around with guidance after getting out of jail and is one often read during incarceration.

The books frequently donated include:

• “Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren

• “MENTOR: The Kid and the CEO” by Tom Pace

• “Alcoholics Anonymous” by Bill Wilson

• “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill

• “The Greatest Miracle in the World” by Og Mandino

• “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie

• “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey

• “A Complaint Free World” by Will Bowen

The World Book Bank has reached many facilities, yet there are many more in need.

For more information, visit www.worldbookbank.org, or call 405-225-0011.