Rehabilitation through reading.
Bang Up Books gives everyone in prison the opportunity to read—an essential yet underutilised tool for rehabilitation, reintegration, and reducing reoffending.
Books are a lifeline inside prison. A route to learning, better mental health, reflection, and a window into worlds beyond the walls.
We source brand new books from publishers' overstocks and private donations, and get them into every prison in England and Wales. Our books start reading groups that spark key conversations. They live in visit centres so prisoners can read with their children. They help people learn to read for the first time. We also create our own projects, including Once Upon A Time—a first-of-its-kind anthology of prison writing, produced entirely inside prison.
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April 2020
Bang Up Books is born. During COVID lockdown, Chris Atkins, award-winning filmmaker, Sunday Times bestselling author, and former prisoner, starts delivering books to HMP Pentonville. A bag of books, a van, the beginning of something beautiful.
May 2020
Laura Suggitt, working at the Ministry of Justice on prison reform, connects with Chris on Twitter because she’s a fan of his first book. A conversation turns into a collaboration.
Summer 2020 - 2023
Through Laura’s work at the MOJ, book delivery progressively scales. A partnership with HMPPS unlocks an innovative model: using space in existing delivery vans to get books inside prison walls. Bang Up Book’s in-prison team expands, reach expands.
September 2023
We reach 100,000 books delivered to prisons across England and Wales.
2024
Major publishing partners become part of the project, including Penguin Random House, expanding our access to books in exciting ways.
March 2025
Call-out for writers inside of prisons for the Once Upon A Time anthology opens. The start of our first publishing project.
April 2025
We reach 200,000 books delivered to prisons across England and Wales.
Summer 2025
Entries for Once Upon A Time are selected via sessions in six prisons. 55 final pieces selected.
April 2026
Once Upon A Time is published. The first book created entirely within prison walls. We reach 300,000 books delivered, officially inside all prisons across England and Wales.
Once Upon A Time
A first-of-its-kind, professionally published book created entirely inside UK prisons.
Once Upon A Time is an anthology of prison writing unlike anything before it—written, designed, and printed, all within prison walls.
The Project:
- 400+ writers from inside prisons across the UK submitted entries
- Every entrant received personal feedback from our volunteer editors
- 55 writers across six sessions in prison were selected to be published
- Writing, editing, piece selection, design, artwork, and printing all produced in prison, including commercial printing at HMP Northumberland
- Book sales fundraise for the Samaritans, who do vital mental health work inside prisons
The Purpose:
- Share the voices of people in prison with a wider audience—words with the power to shift perspectives
- Proof of concept: professional creative work can be successfully produced inside jails and prisons
- Build confidence and agency for contributors who will see their words printed professionally (likely for the first time)
- Connect writers with their families. Every published writer has a copy sent to a person of their choice to share and celebrate their work
- Deliver purposeful activity for inmates—a key commitment from the UK government
- Encourage reading and writing in custody, critical when 60% of people in prisons are functionally illiterate
Testimonials
Tony Simpson
Chief Operating Officer, Sodexo Justice
D
Bang Up Books Reader at HMP Wandsworth
Peter Stanford
Writer and Director at the Longford Trust
Sarah McKnight
Deputy Director of Employment, Skills, and Education at HMPPS
Bang Up Books Reader at HMP
Lincoln
Bang Up Books Reader at HMP
Wandsworth
From The Inside
A real-world view of Bang Up Books in action inside HMP Leyhill.
[Contact Us]
Help Us Put Books In Every Prison
Bang Up Books runs on passion, partnership, and the belief that books belong to everyone—inside and outside of prison walls.
Whether you’re a publisher, a corporate, a philanthropist, a prison, or if you’ve got an idea you think we should hear—let’s talk. Change starts here.