Glen Parva helped develop the framework for Prison Reading Champions alongside HMP Birmingham. Prison librarian Clair McGowan explains how she used Reading Champions to help develop a reading culture:

The Reading Champions scheme is run by the library; it has allowed us to recognise the work which has already been happening at Glen Parva. As a result, it is very time-effective for me to implement as we strive to develop a strong reading culture. Staff and prisoners share their experiences of reading and recommend books to each other. I have even witnessed officers and prisoners talking about what they like to read as they are moving around the prison (and not on their way to the library).

One Officer has started to run regular reading groups in his own time. He has successfully encouraged prisoners to finish all of the Harry Potter novels and inspires, motivates and encourages them to develop a reading habit. A healthcare officer has started his own collection of books and is currently in the process of developing a library and reading area in the Hospital. When officers bring prisoners to the library they encourage and motivated the prisoners to read. One of the ways that we encouraged them to do this was by discovering what they read and then creating a display in the library about their favourite authors/genres. The next time the officer came to the library he would start recommending the books to the prisoners. This method has not failed yet.