Overwhelming Response to Paperback Book and Puzzle Drive

The response to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Paperback Book and Puzzle Drive for Detention Center inmates was so tremendous that the Sheriff’s Office ran out of room and had to share the bounty with other counties’ detention facilities. 

The numbers are in, and the drive – which ran for the month of January – netted 7,870 books and 493 jigsaw puzzles. 

“The community really came through for us,” said Corporal Jennifer Davis, who helped coordinate the project in the Detention Center. 

Due to this overwhelming response, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office gave thousands of books and hundreds of puzzles to the Jackson, Platte and Ray County detention centers. Sheriff’s Office staff also separated out books for youth and donated more than 1,000 of them to the Clay County Juvenile Office, which runs detention centers for offenders 17 and younger. Although only paperback books could be accepted for inmates’ safety, several hundred hardback books were donated. These were given to the Assistance League of Kansas City.  

The donations have completely revamped the Clay County Detention Center’s library, which was dwindling down to a limited selection due to wear and tear. Some of the nonprofits who previously provided books to the Detention Center were no longer able to. Several inmates complained there were only romance novels to read, which did not interest a lot of the average 85% male population. 

Inmates are now devouring the wide selection of nonfiction, mystery, thriller and western books that were donated. They’re also eagerly working through puzzles, with some dayrooms finishing a different one every day. Occupied inmates are more likely to keep the peace, making them and Detention Center staff safer. 

None of this would have been possible without generous community support. In addition to the hundreds of books and puzzles dropped off daily at the Sheriff’s Office, 23 other locations in Clay County signed up to be collection points:

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story