Arizona Book Club helps incarcerated individuals find purpose

A former Arizona Corrections Officer, Christine Calabrese, started a book club for incarcerated individuals inside prison. Calabrese believes a good book can help guide inmates to making better decisions and lead a productive life when released.

The book club initially began with just ten members, but soon grew to three groups of 30 people that would meet several times a week. After the success of the book club, Calabrese quit her job to run EmBOSSed Book Club. She hopes to bring book clubs to all federal and state prisons.

Calabrese, the Executive Director of EmBOSSed Book Club, joined “Arizona Horizon,” to discuss more about the book club and how it works.

Calabrese describes herself as a book lover. Being a literature major, she says that certain books and authors have impacted her life. With this in mind, she thought about the possibility of what would happen if the incarcerated individuals she worked with had the opportunity to read the same books she had.

Her club’s first book was Viktor Frankl’s, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which is a memoir about the authors life in a Nazi concentration camp and the lessons he learned. Calabrese intentionally chose this book for its impactful storyline and themes, but as well as its relevancy to the members.

“Its really a story about resilience and finding your purpose; and when you find that purpose, it pulls you through adversity,” Calabrese said.

Calabrese says that this book really resonated with the men. She explains how the men found comparison between them being incarcerated and being in a concentration camp.

She recalls them talking about how, “those people in the concentration camp were there suffering, but not by their own doing. Where my men were admitting we’re[they are] here because of what we did.”

With the club’s success, Calabrese is pursing the non-profit full time, where she is working to collect books and donations to bring this program to state and federal prisons across the country.

For more information about how to get involved, click here.