A woman inmate surnamed Ren in Beijing was surprised Wednesday to get one of the latest books on American English, since she had dreamed of it ever since beginning studying for a university degree in the prison.
Ren was very excited to receive the English textbook, a gift from the Capital Library, and said, "we don't have to worry about losing touch with society."
She and her fellow inmates in the Beijing Women's Prison will enjoy reading recent works and popular novels under a recent agreement signed by the library and the Beijing Prison Administration.
Starting from this Tuesday, the library will send books to these special readers periodically. On Tuesday, 1,000 books arrived at the prison.
The agreement also said that each prisoner there will have a partner from the library's members of Communist Party of China andCommunist Youth League of China.
Last year, the prisoners were invited to visit the library and this year their works of calligraphy and drawings are expected to be exhibited in the library.
(People's Daily March 7, 2003)
