Washington State Penitentiary-East Complex Branch Library

The Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) was built in 1889 in the rich agricultural country of Walla Walla. The East Complex Branch Library has been part of the WSL family since 1966 and provides services to 982 offenders. 15,000 items are housed in aproximatley 1650 sq. ft. creating a welcoming environment for the offenders to meet their educational, informational, and recreational needs. In this charming area next to the law library staff keep busy with a monthly circulation of 5,520 items and a record year in 2007 of 63,538 items circulated to the offenders of the East Complex. To help facilitate the offenders re-entry into society the library is arranged in a similar fashion of a neighborhood public library, the Dewey Decimal System. Also keeping in mind public libraries the East Complex Branch Library is open 5 days a week, with 2 evenings to accomodate the varing schedules of the offenders. Along with the books, magazines, newspapers, cassettes, and CDs provided in the library, items can be borrowed from other libraries around the US using the Interlibrary Loan process. As not all information can be found in the books on hand, the library staff do their best to provide information from other sources, including the Internet. The staff of the East Complex library also provides an outreach program to the special housing units of WSP creating a conduate of information that allows many offenders unable to come to the library to meet their educational, informational, recreational, and re-entry needs.


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