Prisoners at a north-east superjail are reading up on the life of Charles Bronson, smuggler Christopher Chance – and even how to bake the perfect chocolate cake.
A Freedom of Information request today reveals the top 10 books withdrawn from HMP Grampian’s library and the titles which are reserved the most.
The prison in Peterhead opened in March 2014 at a cost of about £150million.
But within weeks of opening, inmates had to be transferred to the central belt following a major riot.
The top 10 borrowed books:
- Animal Farm (Orwell)
- Heroes and Villains: The Good, The Mad, The Bad and The Ugly (Bronson)
- Honour Among Thieves (Archer)
- The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)
- Two Women (Cole)
- The Body Art Book (Miller)
- 100 Tips for Acoustic Guitar (Mead)
- Chocolate Cakes for Weddings and Celebrations (Slattery)
- The Art of Walt Disney (Finch)
- Labyrinth (Sullivan)
Inmates who have since returned to HMP Grampian have quickly made Charles Bronson – dubbed Britain’s “most notorious prisoner” – a chart topper.
His book Heroes and Villains, Bronson’s tales of the criminal underworld, is one of the library service’s most borrowed reads.
But George Orwell’s dystopian novel Animal Farm beats it to first place.
Martina Cole’s crime drama Two Women, telling the story of a woman stabbing her husband to death, also features on the list of the most-read
Prisoners are encouraged to sign up to the library service and borrow books, and urged to continue to use libraries throughout Aberdeenshire when released.
Many prisoners have also been picking up practical skills with their choice of reading materials.
100 Tips for Acoustic Guitar by David Mead and Chocolate Cakes for Weddings and Celebrations by John Slattery take up the seventh and eighth most-read slots respectively.
Earlier this year, the library service at the prison won Cosla recognition for improving the lives of inmates.
A spokesman said: “Building on evidence that access to reading, learning and literature contributes to reducing reoffending rates, plans were drawn up for an entirely new approach to local authority library
provision within HMP Grampian as part of the construction of a new prison building.
“While impact will be evidenced best on the longer term reoffending rates, there is substantial evidence of the support and inspiration that it is providing to prisoners now.”
Honour Among Thieves, The Catcher in the Rye, The Body Art Book, The Art of Walt Disney, and Labyrinth complete the most-read list.
An Introduction to Scots Criminal Law has been reserved just once from the library service.