Summary(0:33) Moving to New York and finding a job as a prison librarian with the New York Public Library -- (1:26) Reading about his predecessor in the job -- (2:22) Being left to his own devices with budgeting and programming decisions -- (2:50) Lack of a mandate for general libraries within city correctional facilities -- (3:45) Lack of empathy among white officers and the challenge of convincing the officers of the need for library services -- (4:57) Difficult circumstances and tensions for detainees -- (5:45) Positive shifts with the hiring of minority and female officers -- (6:08) Library service mandate from the state education department -- (6:16) Visiting local jails with the poet Bernard Finney -- (6:49) The struggle of connecting inmates with legal resources and internal dynamics within prisons -- (7:50) The facade of bravado masking fear and uncertainty among inmates -- (8:23) Library services as a diversion from violence -- (8:58) Shifting resources at different types of prison institutions throughout the 1980s -- (9:59) Literacy issues and ʺhigh interest/low level” reading material -- (10:43) Importance of the library’s role in providing information on legal services and AIDS prevention -- (11:03) Sourcing a range of reading material to aid with fears over the AIDS crisis -- (12:29) Anti-gay sentiment in the system -- (13:19) The horror of the hospital units at Rikers Island for inmates with AIDS -- (13:59) Bringing books into the AIDS wards -- (14:14) Co-worker’s advocacy for AIDS patients leading to an article for the Village Voice -- (15:04) Revelation of the link between AIDS and drug addiction -- (16:22) Levels of support for library programming depending on the institution -- (17:02) Instances when library efforts came into conflict with the beliefs of officers -- (18:36) Decrease in levels of crime in the jails after the commissioner shifted policies on punishment for violence within prison -- (19:20) The business of state prisons and the need for programs instead of jail -- (20:26) Creating the Connections book of resources for inmates re-entering life in New York City -- (22:07) Process of publishing the book -- (24:05) The challenge of institutional budgets and fighting for program support -- (25:07) Involving more librarians in prison services -- (27:13) Stigma faced by former inmates and the work of readjusting to society -- (30:15) Wanting to do work with a larger impact on the criminal justice system -- (31:39) Changing his unconscious stereotypes about prisoners -- (32:39) Learning about the intelligence and ability of the inmates -- (34:17) Burnout among lawyers and parole officers -- (35:31) The definition of crime being set by the white middle class -- (36:21) The problem of prisons growing as businesses -- (37:00) Shifts in opinion between punishment and rehabilitation -- (39:10) The importance of making inmates aware of what libraries can do for them beyond books -- (40:45) Seeing former inmates in public life who have been impacted positively by library services.
NoteAudio interview conducted on October 25, 2016, by Carmen Lopez at Central Library. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
SubjectPrisons--New York (State) ; Prison librarians ; Libraries and prisons ; New York Public Library ; Political activists ; Budget ; Empathy ; Security ; Rehabilitation ; Violence ; Detention ; AIDS (Disease) ; HIV-positive persons ; Homophobia ; Rikers Island (N.Y.) ; Social advocacy ; Village Voice (Greenwich Village, New York, N.Y.) ; Drug addiction ; Religious fundamentalism ; Punishment ; Crime ; Parole officers ; Stigma (Social psychology) ; Discrimination ; Stereotypes (Social psychology) ; Middle class--United States--Attitudes
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TitleOral history interview conducted with Stephan Likosky on 2016 October 25.