Fantasy genre tops reading lists for NSW prison inmates

While some of the state’s roughest and toughest might enjoy a good thriller, it isn’t the main genre peaking the interest of those doing time in prisons. Here’s what tops their most-wanted literary list.

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Prisoners spend their time behind bars reading fantasy novels and fantasising about escape, their favourite books have revealed.

Consistently among the top five borrowed from the state’s prison libraries is by former heroin addict and convicted bank robber Gregory David Roberts who famously became one of Australia’s most wanted when he escaped from Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison while serving 19 years and fled to India.

Shantaram, the epic 936 page novel, is a top pick for those doing time. Picture: CSNSW

His hefty novel, Shantaram, runs to 936 pages for prisoners who have a lot of time to fill.

The epic fantasy read A Game of Thrones was the most popular book over the past year but out of the more than 136,000 titles on the library shelves, the RMS Road Users’ Handbook and Macquarie Dictionary were the top picks in educational nonfiction.

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Library Services manager Toni Kennedy said the most-requested books are off limits.

“True-crime tops the list of inmate books requested, and rejected, but it should go without saying that those books are banned,” Ms Kennedy said yesterday.

“While some of the state’s roughest and toughest enjoy a good thriller, it isn’t the only genre that is peaking the interest of those doing time. Another popular request is the vampire fantasy novels in the Twilight saga.”

The most-requested books, true crime, are off limits to prisoners. Picture: CSNSW

Shantaram was the second most borrowed book this year behind The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by late Swedish author Stieg Larsson.

A Game of Thrones, the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, was third followed by Crime Scene Cessnock, a murder mystery set in the NSW Hunter’s Pokolbin Valley starring Robert G. Barrett's classic character Les Norton, a Kings Cross bouncer in the 1980s. It has a silhouette of a naked woman on the cover.

Another fantasy novel, A Darkness at Sethanon, comes in at number five.

Game of Thrones, Shantaram, even the Twilight saga are popular requests for prisoners. Picture: CSNSW

The CSNSW Library Department was established by Ms Kennedy in 2003 and it now has seven staff and numerous inmate library-clerks working across the state with all prisons having one to four libraries, varying in size from a cupboard to a full facility.

Assistant Commissioner Governance and Continuous Improvement Carlo Scassera said books provided a way for inmates to learn something new or disappear into another world for a while.

Reading promotes literacy and provides a level of escapism for inmates. Picture: CSNSW

The top five fiction reads for NSW prisoners. Picture: CSNSW

“Access to books is highly valued by inmates as it not only provides entertainment but educational, social and spiritual rehabilitation,” Mr Scassera said.

“It’s also a chance for some offenders to improve their literacy skills, which can assist them post-release, as well as a management tool for staff to keep inmates busy.”

When it comes to educational nonfiction, top picks include the Macquarie Dictionary, the RMS Road Users’ Handbook, A Practical Encyclopaedia of Drawing and Bill Bryson’s popular science book, A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Originally published as Fantasy genre tops reading lists for NSW prison inmates