Bibliotherapy initiatives as a means of creativity in prisons: international and Hungarian cases reflected in the professional literature

Miklósi, Márta (2025) Bibliotherapy initiatives as a means of creativity in prisons: international and Hungarian cases reflected in the professional literature. CREATIVITY STUDIES, 18 (2). pp. 468-480. ISSN 2345-0479

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Abstract

Prison libraries open a window to the world. Initiatives in close cooperation with organizations outside the prison form a bridge to culture, providing events for detainees that, figuratively speaking, take them beyond the prison walls. This essay examines prison library reading groups, initiatives, and activities that may contribute to detainees’ pulling through the period spent in prison and shaping their personalities. We examine bibliotherapy and its advantages. Providing prison library services to detainees can be a powerful experience for detainees serving their sentences, and the far-reaching and lasting effects of reading are unquestionable. The popularity of the programmes is unbroken. In addition to the detainees’ getting out of the cells and establishing social bonds, these programmes typically improve the detainee’s general mood, reduce their anxiety, and improve their communication and emotional expression skills. In the second part of the article, we collect exciting and unique initiatives from all over the world. The presented cases clearly show that the provision of various reading therapies and cultural and educational activities for detainees can contribute to making prison sentences more tolerable. Collecting innovative experiences and creative solutions is helpful because these initiatives can even serve as models for other countries.

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