Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1922-07-27
CONvICTS LIKE TO
READ ABOUT COWBOYS
sBy Associated Press)

- - >
confined in small iron cells like
best to read stories about cow
boys and the boundless outdoors
of the great West, while women
prisoners are just as enthusiastic
about love stories as are the flap
pers along Main street, according
to the observations of Chaplain
Burton L. Hoffman, of the Ken
lucky State Reformatory here.
Chaplain Hoffman is in charge CT
the library work and comes into
close touch with the literary
tastes of the convicts.
Cheap magazines-those that
have stories with lots of pep and
action-are preferred by the men
The western stories have the
strongest ppeal, according to the
chaplain, because they offer a re-
action from the dull life of the
men within the prison walls. The
convict, in his mind, wanders over
the vast plains with the hero an,
imagines himself in the hero's
place instead of within the stone
walls, the chaplain believes.
Detective stories are also in de
mand and have a large following
Among the women prisoners
love stories are in the greatest
favor because those deprived Of
their liberty still retain their emo
tions and like to imagine them
selves being rescued from peri
by the tall, dashing hero of fic-
ton. b.
The majority of the convicts
are men of little education, which
partly explains, the chaplain be
lieves, why stories of adventure
are preferred to the heavy" kind
of literature that they are unable
to understand.
But fiction is not all that is rea(
within walls OF the refcrmatory
The Bible comes in for much Use
and Mr.. Hoffman stated that, iii
lis opinion, it is read several
times as much by the prisoners
here as it is by the same number
of men on the outside.
One prisoner reads books on
Spiritualism exclusively and
bccIks are brought in from other
libraries to meet their wants.
Others spend their reading time
in perusing books on religious
work. The Book of Knowl-
edge" and encyclopedia of facts,
is not without its followers, while
there are some who devote con-
siderable time to law books.
Chaplain Hoffman has inaugur-
ated a library system that vii
enable the convicts to select the
kind of books they want. 1t has
been the practice, he said, for
convicts to send in their names
with requests for books and the
librarian would send those books
or magazines that he thought
would interest the prisoners.
Now each convict writes a list
of twenty books or magazines he
desires. The chaplain goes over
the list and if the first books
not in the library at the time. |,
sends the second one on the list.
If that is not available, he keeps
on down the list until he finds
one requested that is in the libra
". Then when the others are
eturned to the library, he sends
them to- the man requesting them
y record is kept of the books
each prisoner reads.
In addition to about 1900 books
in the prison library, several hun
dred newspapers are circulated
within the walls daily. In this
way prisoners are kept in touch
with the happenings of the world.
Otherwise, Chaplain Hoffman
said, a man who had been in
prison for a number of years
would be totally out of place in
the world when he was release.
An experiment to ascertain
what kind of molten pictures are
preferred by the prisoners is to
be conducted soon. Society
dramas, western, northern and
detective types and comedies will
will be Sh01nn and efforts will be