Intellectual freedom, social justice and prison libraries in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The article contributes to the professional discussion of prison library in the context of intellectual freedom and social justice paradigm. It presents results from a survey of the prison libraries in Sri Lanka based on Magazine Prison in Welikada. The survey was conducted in 2018 through an interview. The results show that many prisons in Sri Lanka provide some kind of minimal library services to their inmates. However, prison libraries in Sri Lanka are not professionally managed or are they regularly funded. Further, their collections are developed mainly through gifts and there is almost no evidence of any systematic programming which would lead to constructive and creative use of prisoners’ free time.