Book Club Opens New Worlds for Incarcerated Women

Each month, a circle of readers sets out anew—perhaps to cross a dusty Georgia field in “The Color Purple,” wander a stormy Yorkshire moor in “Wuthering Heights,” or walk with convicts in colonial Australia in “The Secret River.” For now, such literary journeys are the only ones available to members of this book club, which meets inside the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women.

Co-led by University of Maryland Professor of English Jason Rudy since 2017, this club gives participants a chance to reflect on what fictional worlds reveal about their own. The books they’ve read span centuries, genres and continents, ranging from gothic thrillers and speculative sci-fi to literary classics and historical fiction. 

“A novel can be such an invitation to imagine something completely different,” Rudy said.

Now, thanks to a recent bequest from an anonymous donor, the program will continue into the future and expand to include graduate student support—giving emerging scholars the opportunity to assist with discussions and train in public humanities work.

The club was founded more than two decades ago by Brenda Murray MBA ’87, a retired chief administrative law judge with the Securities and Exchange Commission, who wanted to create a space inside the prison for rigorous intellectual engagement. Each month, 12-15 participants read a selected novel and then come together for discussion. Some women take part in the club while serving just a few years; others have been inside for decades, and may never leave.

Carolann Hartman, a former inmate who was among the club’s founding members, said she walked away each month from the meetings “with a new understanding of the world.”

“It expanded our minds,” said Hartman, who was released in 2018 and now works as a designer at Maryland Correctional Enterprises. “It was intellectually stimulating and challenging, and those discussions often led to making acquaintances and bonds with the other women.” 

Initiatives like the book club represent a pillar of Gov. Wes Moore’s administration’s efforts to reduce recidivism, said Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs. 

“By providing the women at MCI-W a supportive environment to engage in reflective thought and discourse, we are helping them re-frame their experiences,” Scruggs said. “This critical, internal development sharpens cognitive skills, boosts self-assurance, and provides the personal foundation required for long-term community success.”

Today, a small committee keeps things running: Rudy and Victoria Barnett-Woods, a faculty member at Washington College, lead the discussions, while longtime volunteers Susie Jordan and Roberta Sabin, professor emerita at Loyola University Maryland, manage logistics. Together, they encourage the women to follow their curiosities and explore a wide range of literary styles.

After reading Emily Brontë, the women compared the novel’s alliances to the politics of the prison cafeteria, concluding that choosing sides can be a survival strategy, while trying to please everyone may leave you unprotected. Another month, an edition of “A Christmas Carol” with illustrations casting Dickens’ characters as Black Victorians sparked a conversation about visual storytelling and race. Contemporary novels bring their own provocations: Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun” prompted a debate over whether the AI protagonist truly feels or only performs feeling, and Elizabeth Moon’s “The Speed of Dark” started one about neurodivergence and autonomy. 

Drawing on Rudy’s interests in Australia and Indigenous history, the club often travels Down Under through novels like Kate Grenville’s “The Secret River,” Charlotte Wood’s “The Natural Way of Things” and Andrew McGahan’s “The White Earth.” Rudy noted that Australian history is bound up with “convict transportation,” the practice of exiling people to distant colonies as punishment and labor. The women use those narratives to imagine other systems of justice.

Last year, College of Arts and Humanities Dean Stephanie Shonekan joined the club for its discussion of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.” Drawing on her background as an ethnomusicologist, Shonekan brought in selections from the 2023 film soundtrack. The women listened, then talked about how the music deepened their understanding of the story, with Fantasia Barrino’s gospel-inspired vocals echoing the character Celie’s journey toward selfhood.

For Shonekan, the session revealed the way literature and music can connect people across vastly different lives. “It was so rich,” she said. “They were engaged not only with the text but with their own personal journeys.”

Above all, Rudy emphasized that the women keep showing up because they want to. “For the space of an hour, hour and a half, they’re somewhere else … using their minds, engaging in bigger questions,” he said.