Books For Offenders Program Brainchild Of Park Tudor Student

INDIANAPOLIS -- The phrase "don’t judge a book by its cover" has taken on new meaning for some Park Tudor High School students who are collecting reading materials to give to juvenile offenders.

The program was the brainchild of Madeline Kahn, a senior, who toured the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center while working as a legal intern this summer, 6News' Derrik Thomas reported.

Kahn said that when she was shown around the facility she was struck by how many of the young offenders didn't have books to read.

"They deserve to have everything that I have," she said. "I go to a good school and I have a good family and have access to stuff, and they deserve that too."

The experience prompted her to ask her classmates to donate books -- everything from Dr. Seuss stories to novels -- to give to the 100 or so teenage offenders.

So far, the drive has collected more than 250 books, Kahn said.

Every child in detention will be given one book. After that, they can work to buy more, officials said.

"They earn points and they can use those points to acquire items from the commissary -- chips and snacks and candy -- hygiene items or now, thanks to Madeline and the kids at Park Tudor, they can get a book," said Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, with whom Kahn interned this summer.

Kahn will formally present the books to officials at the detention center on Thursday.

"I hope these kids are able to feel good about themselves through being able to read and have something that is their own, to be able to value themselves in an educational perspective rather than in a criminal way," she said.

Kahn will attend college next fall. She said she would eventually like to become a lawyer.