Libraries have long been a bastion of democracy. These grand spaces can embody the power of literature, architecture, community, and opportunity. Freedom Reads, an organization that supports people in prison by increasing their access to books, partnered with MASS Design Group to begin the process of installing 1,000 Freedom Libraries inside American prisons and juvenile detention centers. Their goal is to inspire a movement, one book at a time.

Paying homage to the original grassroots Freedom Libraries—spaces that provided Black Americans access to books during an era of de facto segregation—it was important that this new incarnation inspire readers. “Among our civic spaces, the library is one of the most hopeful,” says Regina Chen, a senior director at MASS Design, a social justice–oriented architecture firm. “We were inspired by the idea that the library or, more specifically, the Freedom Library, could be a symbol of resistance, perseverance, and community.”

An aerial view of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk, Massachusetts (MCI-Norfolk).

Funded by a $5.25 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the initiative’s first Freedom Library launched in November 2021 at MCI-Norfolk, a historic prison outside of Boston. A guiding principle at MASS is that design affects behavior and it can do so in three ways: directly, indirectly, and symbolically. Whether directly or subconsciously, Chen said, the design of the Freedom Library aims to challenge ideas around: “Who deserves dignity and beauty?” and “Who deserves access to craft?” “In prisons, the culture is one of regimentation. People are given numbers, counts occur at set points during the day, and the materiality reflects that: rigid lines, perpendicular corners, hard surfaces. What if instead we inserted softness? Nature?” Chen asked.

The design team drew inspiration from Martin Luther King’s quote, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” One of the key focuses of the Freedom Library is a curved bookshelf, deterring from a typical bookshelf, which is rigid and straight. The curved structure uses space as an opportunity in a different, more creative way.

MCI-Norfolk was where Malcolm X was incarcerated in the 1950s, and where he educated himself through the reading of books.

Significantly, MCI-Norfolk was where Malcolm X was incarcerated in the 1950s. This is where Malcolm X educated himself through reading books; he credited his education to his time in prison. “I don’t think there could have been a more metaphorically and poetic place [to launch Freedom Libraries],” says the founder of Freedom Reads, poet and attorney Reginald Dwayne Betts. “The way his life represents a person educating their way to freedom, and remaining rigorous and astute in their analysis, and being willing to accept being wrong, being willing to revise his thinking.”

A rendering shows a proposed design of the Freedom Libraries.

Betts, who himself was incarcerated for 9 years when he was 16, drew from his experience in prison to launch the Freedom Libraries project. While in solitary confinement, one simple action changed Betts’s life: a prisoner slipped him a book. “I survived solitary and rediscovered a sense of freedom the system had tried to beat out of me, because [the prisoner] slid The Black Poets edited by Dudley Randall into my cell,” Betts said. “A poem can give somebody a whole world of hope. After reading that book, I dedicated myself to helping other prisoners, and people outside of prison, discover the freedom blueprint poetry, literature, and other arts can provide.”

America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 2.3 million people behind bars. With national initiatives to change the justice system , and the AIA’s New York chapter demanding architects stop designing carceral structures, the mood is ripe for change and reform. Some officials inside the Departments of Correction are trying to signal change too. Freedom Reads is partnering with DOCs around the country to work toward building libraries inside prison dorms. At MCI-Norfolk, it was the prison superintendent who suggested gutting a prison cell to build a Freedom Library, a symbol of the commitment to enhancing access to literature to strengthen shared community life.

The design team drew inspiration from Martin Luther King’s quote, “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” One of the key focuses of the Freedom Library is a curved bookshelf, differing from a typical bookshelf, which is rigid and straight.

Because each correctional setting presents different challenges, MASS made sure the Freedom Library was adaptable and transformable, based on the constraints and opportunities of each site. The designers understood the challenges and complexities of working within a carceral setting, and knew certain constraints would include budget, durability, and different perspectives around what constitutes “public safety,” Chen explains.

Thus, it was important that Freedom Libraries be both modular and scalable. “As prisons close, as they become substance use disorder treatment centers or community schools or library-theaters, the library modules can be readily moved and repurposed—not permanently of the prison’s architecture,” Freedom Reads deputy director Tess Wheelwright says.

The modular design allows for more units to be added as needed, without much disruption. Each library can hold up to 800 books. Betts and his Freedom Reads organization deployed surveys, conducted focus groups, and spoke to numerous people in order to curate which books to feature in the Freedom Library, which currently features 500 books.

The Freedom Library bookshelves are handcrafted from bamboo because of its beauty, strength, and durability.

Another design focus was materiality. MASS worked with several fabricators across the country to test different joinery and designs that highlight the human handprint and the history behind the pieces. The Freedom Library bookshelves are handcrafted from bamboo because of its beauty, strength, and durability.

A prisoner (whose name will not be cited for confidentiality purposes) at MCI-Norfolk painted a mural for the Freedom Library. The mural features the founder of Freedom Reads, Betts, reading a book. The book that changed Betts’s life while in prison, The Black Poets , props open a cell door and, on the other side, is a fecund land of discovery. Painted on the mural are the words: “Literacy Is Freedom.”

“Reading and art are ways of escaping, but they also nurture the heart and soul. They help with the anguish of the day,” the self-taught painter and muralist says. “You stay in certain circles in this place, but when you put a book in the mix, you open up your horizons. Books bridge gaps and are conversation starters. They make people less strange to each other.”

Freedom Reads and MASS embarked on a slew of Freedom Library installations in January 2022, continuing with their national movement to transform people’s lives through literature. Before returning to his cell, the muralist adds, “the Freedom Library gives people hope that things are progressing to more hopeful places.”