Our History
Recognizing a need for library and literacy services in Cook County Jail, Kate Nadolski began facilitating book groups as well as poetry slams at the jail in 2016. This group became formerly known as the Readers Group and was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 2017.
These groups met weekly and the mission focused on engaging and inspiring incarcerated individuals through literature by:
In March of 2020, all programming at the jail ceased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Readers Group has since halted operations at the Cook County jail.
In May of 2021, the Readers Group partnered with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine's Office of Correctional Medicine. The mission now focuses on supporting correctional libraries in facilities in Illinois.
In September of 2022, the board voted to change the name of the Readers Group to the Correctional Library Support Program to better reflect the mission change.
CLSP is managed and run by volunteers. We have no paid staff and donations go to supporting and fulfilling the mission.
These groups met weekly and the mission focused on engaging and inspiring incarcerated individuals through literature by:
- Increasing literacy
- Allowing detainees to articulate thoughts and opinions
- A chance for detainees to see different points of view
- Providing detainees an outlet to share their own poetry and written works
- Giving detainees an opportunity to take a leadership role by leading discussions
In March of 2020, all programming at the jail ceased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Readers Group has since halted operations at the Cook County jail.
In May of 2021, the Readers Group partnered with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine's Office of Correctional Medicine. The mission now focuses on supporting correctional libraries in facilities in Illinois.
In September of 2022, the board voted to change the name of the Readers Group to the Correctional Library Support Program to better reflect the mission change.
CLSP is managed and run by volunteers. We have no paid staff and donations go to supporting and fulfilling the mission.
Meet Our Board
Kate Nadolski, Executive Director
Kate Nadolski is a professional librarian and when not working in a traditional library setting, is passionate about supporting correctional libraries and fostering a love of lifelong reading and learning with justice-served individuals. Kate holds a master's degree in Library and Information Science and has been volunteering her time to improve access to literature to correctional facilities since 2016.
Emily Anderson, Board Member
Emily Anderson is a Research Project Manager in the Institute for Public Health & Medicine (IPHAM) Center for Community Health at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. Ms. Anderson has a master’s degree in psychology and has served as a volunteer literacy tutor at various locations in Chicago, including Cook County men’s jail , Anixter Center, Literacy Chicago , and Howard Area Community Center She also served for 2 years as a monthly volunteer yoga teacher at Cook County Women’s Jail through the Yoga for Recovery program.
Charles Nadolski, Board Member
Charles Nadolski is an enterprise architect at Northern Trust. His responsibilities there include reviewing software projects to ensure they meet business needs and adhere to financial regulations. He also publishes software design patterns to guide teams to create better solutions. While serving on the board he offers solutions to technical issues and strategies to improve information literacy. He hopes his efforts will reduce recidivism and improve the quality of life for the incarcerated.
Rebekkah LaRue, Board Member
Rebekkah LaRue has her BFA in Studio Art from Cazenovia College and her MLIS from Dominican University. She is currently the Technical Services Librarian at Dominican. In her free time she enjoys making art, reading comics, going to rallies, and hanging with her cat, Vincent.
We are currently looking for more board members. We especially welcome formerly incarcerated individuals to serve on our board.
If you are interested, please contact Kate Nadolski: kate[at]corrlibsupport.org
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