Publishers jailed overnight in campaign for prisoners' right to read

Six publishers have volunteered for a night in the cells, fundraising for campaign against limits on prisoners' entitlement to books

There's more than one sort of porridge, as any lag would tell you. Profile Books publisher Andrew Franklin opted for the lumpier kind when he volunteered to spend a night in the cells this week with a Jeffrey Archer novel. He is one of six leading lights from the publishing world who will be banged up on Thursday night to raise money for the Howard League for Penal Reform's campaign against the recent ban on gifts of books to prisoners.

Pledges totalling £4,749.88 secured Franklin his overnight detention, alongside fellow publishers Jamie Byng (Canongate) and David Young (Hachette), agent Clare Conville, Society of Authors chair Anna Sebba and Polly Powell, CEO of Pavilion Books, which is hosting the overnight stay in disused police cells conveniently located beneath their London offices, in the old West London Magistrates' Court.

Continue reading...