Pittsburgh Prison Book Project was born in 2000 as Book ‘Em when founders, Etta Cetera and Athena Kazuhiro, learned from an incarcerated friend of the nearly non-existent educational opportunities that U.S. prisons afford their prisoners. Not only was the library at her friend’s prison under-stocked, but it was impossible for inmates to request new materials or to receive books from friends and family.

Upon learning more about the plight of prisoners who strive to self-educate, Etta and Athena found out that this lack of access to reading material was an extremely common scenario. They therefore set out to amend the educational deprivation that millions of imprisoned individuals suffer today. With the counsel of a well-established books-to-prisoners program, Philadelphia Books Through Bars, Etta gained sponsorship from The Three Penny, a Pittsburgh bookstore. With this sponsorship, Book‘Em gained permission from the U.S. prison system to send educational packages to prisoners. Rapid growth due to community interest prompted Book‘Em to change its sponsor in 2002 to the Big Idea Book Store, an independent bookshop in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood.

Since 2003, Book‘Em has been operating from the Thomas Merton Center, a community-based organizing center. The Merton Center sponsors many forward-thinking, progressive projects in the area, with an emphasis on peace and social justice.

During our packing sessions, volunteers respond to letters from incarcerated individuals, selecting books that suit their needs and preparing the packages for mailing, in addition to making decisions, Volunteers propose additions or changes to the program and we decide as a group how to best implement those suggestions.

In 2021 Book ‘Em moved from 5129 Penn Avenue in Garfield to the Spartan Community Center of Hazelwood and changed their name to Pittsburgh Prison Book Project. They remained a project of the Thomas Merton Center and Big Idea Book Store but moved out of the basement and into the light.

In 2025, The Thomas Merton Center sunsetted after 50 years of social justice organizing in Pittsburgh. PPBP teamed up with Let’s Get Free - The Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee as PPBP’s new fiscal sponsor.

Pittsburgh Prison Book Project

Pittsburgh Prison Book Project's 25th Anniversary Party!