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'Time to Read'

James Stevens-Turner recently received the following e-mail from Jack and Frankie Brannan of Wichita, USA. Also reprinted below is an article by Lori O'Toole Buselt which appeared in the Wichita Eagle on 2 January 2002.

"I would like to Explain why we started "Time to Read." I am disabled since March of 1991 with anxiety, stress, depression and Post traumatic Stress disorder after working for the Memphis Police Department. My wife has been disabled since October 1993 with various cancers, including colon, breast, sinus polyps and skin. She is also diagnosed with multiple Sclerosis and has severe medical problems. We had never had the criminal problems before until October 06, 2001.

"Wichita City Police came to our home, removed us and forcibly took us downtown to the Police Station. We were arrested, our home searched and we stayed in Sedgewick County Jail until we finally were able to bond out on November 19, 2001. We were both assigned different public defender attorneys. Our stay in this detention facility was both nightmare and a wake up call. When we were forcibly removed from the home we had five cats in the home and four dogs outside. The police did NOTHING for the care of our precious pets even though both residents, the ONLY residents my wife and myself had been removed from our home. Soon after my male Pembroke Welsh Corgi died in my back yard. On October 25, 2001, the Wichita Animal Shelter came to the Sedgewick County Jail and asked my wife for permission to remove and board the other pets. She signed for boarding and agreed to have this doneat a charge of 10.00 per day per animal. That day the Wichita Animal Shelter took my remaining three dogs, the mother dog and her two daughters, who we had seen born, and only three of our five cats including my female mother cat and her blind son. THEN behind, Two cats were left in the home with no food nor water.

"When we got out of Jail on November 19, 2001, and wanted our pets back, first we were told that they ALL had been killed. Then we were told that the three cats had been killed and the three dogs given away. We were refused the return of our dogs even though the Wichita Animal Control adoption receipt clearly states that they can remove an adopted pet FOR ANY REASON. I still to this day have no answer why the Wichita police did not board my animals on October 06, 2001, when we were removed nor why my animals were killed and given away and my other two cats left here to die. Luckily for us and them, the two cats were alive, barely, but we did get them back healthy and we praise the Lord that they were here and alive. The city of Wichita takes no responsibility for their actions and inactions.

"We also found, when we returned home that numerous items were stolen. These included boxes of handgun ammunition, a Beretta 92F handgun, a hand held video game, a tube of Colgate toothpaste, and a fake security camera. The police did NOT seize these items and initially refused to even take a police report on the theft and then they labeled it as a "lost" items?????????? They also seized all of our prescription medicines and refused to return them even though we had a prescription for every one of the medicines and we were not charged with any type of drug violation. Our house was also torn apart.

"While in jail we learned that you are now guilty according to everyone. Even "friends" who refuse your phone calls. Even though we are not Catholic, our Catholic Sister friends, Sister's Stella, Becky and Jeanine, all stood with us. Most inmates were angry and growing angrier by the minute, The medical treatment was below sub par and the food could only be called nasty. Violence and suicides and suicide attempts were frequent. The one television, for 12 inmates, was often the source of fights and conflicts. The one ONE outlet a person had other then the crying and worrying about their situation was a book. A book was what a person could use to go to another place and use to escape for a few hours a day. Almost everyone that could read did. Some read for an hour or two a day others read all day except to eat. A book seemed to be the only way "not to be there". There were conflicts over the lack of books but we thought that that was easy to cure more and better books.
We decide, since we threw away our own used books to start a book drive. We began by calling book stores asking for old books inventory reduction books and over stock books anything that they did not want. We approached churches and congregations that we knew to donate, our own Physicians office donated some books. It went so well we decided to go further and ask and write everyone we could think of, That is when it was picked up by the news media. We are NOT an organization, nor a charity, nor a business. We are two people who unfortunately were incarcerated for 45 days and realize the deplorable situation that us and others were forced upon with having not been proven of guilt as we have yet to be even tried in a court, and we wanted to help make the circumstances better.Then after being released on the house arrest at the cost of 1000.00 per month avg. Frankie was accused of testing positive on a EMIT drug test which incidently was a false positive due to the serequel the jail had to substitute for one of her regular seizure medications. But once again we were quilty unitl we had to prove there is numerous medications that can cause false positives in drug tests. We still stay in contact with a few of our ex inmates offering words of encouragement and Prayer for their needs. I hate to admit to you or my self or anyone else but I used to be one of those people that did not care about inmates and they deserved what they got. Then I met the 16 and 20 year olds that were forsaken by friends and family and society. The uneducated and illiterate whose only goal upon release was to run from probation and get as much money as fast and as quickly as they could and at any means necessary.
Rehabilitation?? I laugh. There was not even counseling available nor proper medical treatment, just the bare necessities. I would imagine and only this to prevent law suits. I appreciate your time and effort and we appreciate your interest. We NEVER imagined the positive quick response that we have received as the Lord has blessed us in doing this for these less fortunate."

Ex-inmate starts book drive for jail

By Lori O'Toole Buselt
The Wichita Eagle

Their faces only an inch apart, two female Sedgwick County Jail inmates were screaming and shoving each other.The fight grew louder, involving others and escalating to a point that a deputy stepped in to remove the item that sparked the fight: an aged, dog-eared romance novel that each inmate wanted to read.Former inmate Frankie Brannan said it was one of many similar fights she witnessed during her 45 days in jail this fall. It wasn't the fights alone that she thought were terrible, though: She was appalled at the poor condition of the limited number of books available to the 1,200 inmates who have more than a little reading time on their hands.Now out of jail on bond, Brannan has made it her mission to collect thousands of books for the jail -- something she said would help inmates and guards."You really don't understand how hungry these people are for something to read," she said. "Everyone always says learning is the way to keep them out of jail. It has to start somewhere." With the help of her husband, Jack, she has already collected more than 1,000 books in her "Time to Read" book drive.

Frankie Brannan said some inmates read to aid their education. Each year, as many as 70 inmates earn their GED there.However, she said, most use the books as an escape, a way to deal with pent-up anger. She said she turned to devotional books and romance novels while in jail to travel to a different place and time."It gets them out of those four walls," said Sedgwick County sheriff's Lt. Dwayne Wright, who's been with the department for 13 years. "They don't have anything else to do but read." Wright, who supervises deputies in charge of the jail's books, said it's common to see inmates reading quietly and finding peace in the stories.He said he was aware of the fights that occur over books and said more books would help. "We do know that it does help them if they have something to take their minds off of what they're serving for," Wright said. He said the jail doesn't purchase new books; it depends on donations.The problem is, he said, donations are rare. "If we're lucky, somebody might come with a box or two," Wright said. "We do desperately need them."

Before Brannan's donations, the jail had about 1,300 books, 1,000 of which were rotated weekly among the jail's 22 housing pods, each has about 50 people.The inmates can't choose or request specific books, Wright said, because of security risks of people passing contraband or messages to inmates.However, each Saturday afternoon, a group of inmates and a sheriff's deputy push a cart of books to each pod, taking the ones that have been read and distributing different ones.

The jail's library is in a small closet in the back of a classroom, surrounded by inmate housing units.Several of the half-dozen shelves are empty, and the books there barely fill one of the distribution carts, Wright said. Most are nonfiction, Westerns and romance novels. Some are children's books for the inmates who have a lower reading level.Brannan said many of the books she saw while in jail were published as early as the 1960s. Some had yellowed or missing pages. Others were missing endings.During the third week of December, jail employees threw away about 300 books that were unreadable from wear and tear.

To replace them, Brannan has called new and used bookstores as well as various area charities asking for donations.She said she'd like to collect hymnals, science fiction books and books with large print.She said some inmates with poor eyesight would hold their eyeglasses next to the page in an attempt to magnify the words.She'd like to find Stephen King books, too. His book "The Stand" was one of the most popular among the inmates, she said.Wright also said the jail needed more reading material in Spanish, Vietnamese or Laotian to accommodate the growing number of inmates who speak those languages.He said the jail already provides a few Hispanic magazines.

Brannan said she hopes the books will teach the inmates to read, improve their understanding of the world and build self-confidence.She sees her book drive as a long-term fix."Maybe when they're back on the outside, they'll pick up a book instead of a gun."

For more information or to donate to the "Time to Read" book drive, contact the Brannans at 682-8648.Reach Lori O'Toole Buselt at 268-6562 or lbuselt@wichitaeagle.com