Justice Matters is the Quixote Center's criminal justice program, which includes Books to Prisons and the Grassroots Investigation Project.  We're working hard to expand it, and we invite you to share your wisdom and imagination with us. Please take our short survey outlining our new directions for this important project. Thank you for helping make the new dream a reality and for continuing to support our current work.  Below is a description of our current work.

Books to Prisons

Since 1999, Books to Prisons has been sending free reading material to prisoners and educating the public on issues surrounding prisoner education and literacy. Most prisons do not offer educational programs and require that books come from specified organizations or publishers, making reading material next to impossible to get.

"I’m getting out in one more year and I need learning material. I went to 7th grade and flunked then went again and dropped out. I also flunked 1st grade. I do not have a G.E.D. or anything except a few trades. I need help. My celly says I won’t make it far without a G.E.D. He’s writing this for me also. Books that I need are the following: spelling books, easy math (measurements, fractions, etc.) language arts, easy dictionary. Thank you for your help…" Request from prisoner in Gatesville, TX

Every week volunteers gather at a donated space to read prisoners’ letters and try to find a book or three that matches the requests and the prisons’ restrictions. They then write letters, wrap the packages and prepare them for shipping. Books to Prisons gets about 1,000 requests a month from prisoners across the country. Satellite groups are being created to meet the tremendous demand. Because Books to Prisons is run by volunteers most of the budget goes straight to postage and mailing supplies. On average it cost about $3 to mail a much wanted book. Your support can make such a huge difference in a prisoner’s life. For more information or to make a donation visit the Books to Prisons website.

Grassroots Investigation Project (GRIP)

People facing capital murder charges must navigate a complicated legal system. If they are poor they may end up with an inexperienced or overworked lawyer who has been assigned to take the next court appointed case. Without knowing how the system works, it’s easy to make mistakes. It’s clear that some cases “slip through the cracks”. The Grassroots Investigation Project (GRIP) is dedicated to working with these types of cases. Created by anti-death-penalty activist Claudia Whitman, GRIP has been providing educational materials, training, and one-to-one technical assistance to help capital defendants, death row prisoners, and their family members since 2000. By partnering with community based-allies and innocence projects to secure pro bono and low cost services, GRIP empowers defendants and their families to better advocate for themselves. To date, three people have been released through the help of grip: Jeffrey Deskovic, exonerated in September 2007, Willie Tucker, paroled in 2006, and Rick Auldridge, paroled in 2008.