Prison libraries serve vital purposes

James Patterson's Cross, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, and Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People--these are a few of the most popular books among inmates in Massachusetts prisons, according to an article by Laura Crimaldi appearing on the Boston Herald.com website.

The article notes that the state's Department of Correction runs 11 full-service libraries providing legal and recreational reading materials to 11,000 prisoners. It also notes that the libraries are considered critical to prisons and that the American Correction Association will not accredit a prison that does not have a library. For further information, read the full article.