A University of Michigan professor goes where some have never gone before — behind prison walls — for her latest book, “The Underground Book Railroad: Women Prisoners and the Art of Reading.”

Megan Sweeney went to three prisons in the United States to interview 94 female prisoners about their reading habits. She said reading has always been an important part of her life and she was curious to see if reading was beneficial to incarcerated women.

Through past research Sweeney said she has learned that education systems and counseling in many prisons are limited. She said a few book genres, like urban books, are banned in some prison libraries.

She said these books are confiscated from the prison mail rooms, and those books the prisoners are able to sneak away are passed around amongst the prisoners. This is known as the underground book railroad.

Sweeney did an advertising campaign with fliers and a television ad in the prisons. Women prisoners who were interested in reading new books and participating in a group discussion signed up for her research program.

She did a screening process, which consisted of two interviews. The first interview was about the prisoner’s life experience and the second was about the prisoner’s interest in books. If at any point the prisoners felt uncomfortable, they were free to drop out of the program.

She provided the women with books they requested and some books that she felt would be good conversation starters. After her program began, Sweeney found that the women were most interested in the urban genre, self-help books for women who have been victimized and Christian books, specifically those authored by Joyce Meyer.

Through group discussions, Sweeney found that many of the women prisoners identified with female characters. She said they were looking for mentors or someone to relate to, even if they didn’t agree with the character’s actions.

She said many of the women began sharing the books with family members or other women throughout the prisons. Sweeney believes it has built a sense of community among the women and helped them feel connected to the outside world.

Sweeney said literacy has a long history in the penal system, which she traces in one of the chapters in her book. At one point, she said reading was used as a form of discipline for prisoners and as a tool of moralization.

Sweeney believes we must change our view of prisoners and she argues that reading can give prisoners the chance to develop intellectually.

“People in prison are not a lost cause. They are us and we are them. They are citizens and people of our country,” Sweeney said in an interview with The Lantern.

She says the women she used for her study are trying to understand their circumstances. Sweeney believes that we should no longer think of prisoners as “lock ‘em up and throw away the key.”

She will be giving a lecture at ICRPH Knight House at 104 E. 15th Ave. on Feb. 25. The event is free and it is from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.