Orange County prisoners partake in poetry and prose

Librarian Maggie Hite loves her job more than the average person.

“Libraries are the s—-,” Hite said.

And now, Hite­ — a circulation librarian at the Chapel Hill Public Library — is helping the library reach out to a group of people who wouldn’t normally be able to access it: inmates at the Orange Correctional Center.

Earlier this month, Hite was invited to speak at a reading group for prisoners at the correctional center, a minimum security prison for adult males.

The group recently read Nelson Mandela’s book “Conversations with Myself,” which Hite recommended.

Hite, who worked in South Africa and Zimbabwe as assistant director of the World Library Partnership building libraries in rural areas, said she thought the prisoners might be able to connect with Mandela’s body of work.

“There’s a great deal we can learn from Nelson Mandela about how to go through violence, live through oppression, live through incarceration,” Hite said.

“Just like the men at the Orange County facility, and come out not bitter and angry, but transformed and moving on.”

Susan Simone, a regular volunteer at the center who works with the reading group, said she enjoys working with the inmates.

“The guys are so rewarding,” Simone said. “They’re so excited to learn new things and have new experiences.”

And some inmates have also been allowed to attend poetry workshops at the Chapel Hill Public Library.

The four free poetry workshops — known as the Living Libraries Series — were conducted by the Sacrificial Poets, an organization that works with the Triangle’s youth through poetry and spoken word.

“Living Libraries is built around the idea that we all hold a collection of stories and that we are a living library,” said Will McInerney, executive director of Sacrificial Poets.

“It’s important to find time to share those stories with other community members,” he said.

Kane Smego, artistic director for Sacrificial Poets, said he welcomed the inmates’ perspectives to the Living Libraries series.

“They have the opportunity to come out not as prisoners but as people who are interested in poetry and writing,” he said.

Smego said he plans to continue working with the reading group.

“People from all different backgrounds and all different stories can use poetry and spoken word as a means of telling their story and promoting understanding,” he said.

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