Book Clubs for Inmates (BCFI) is a registered charity that organizes volunteer-led book clubs within federal penitentiaries across Canada. Currently, BCFI is facilitating 36 book clubs from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.

BCFI runs French and English language book clubs for men and women incarcerated in minimum, medium, and maximum security facilities. Book clubs are usually made up of 10-18 members who meet once a month to discuss books, both fiction and non-fiction of literary merit.

Book club discussions are mediated by community volunteer facilitators, who guide conversation into themes such as identity, adversity, forgiveness, and resilience and explore how these themes relate to inmates’ lives. BCFI’s book clubs encourage positive change through the power of literature. In addition, our book clubs help inmates to improve life skills such as respect, discipline, self-esteem, self-confidence and positive problem-solving. Through the book clubs, inmates also learn how to communicate and cooperate more effectively. As inmates read and discuss literature, they demonstrate improved literacy and analytical skills. Developing these skills helps inmates make meaningful life changes, and upon release reintegrate more successfully into the community.

For more information about our work, visit our website.