Itawamba County’s jail library contains 2,300 books and growing.

Sheriff Chris Dickinson says the hope is that the library is not that it’s a form of entertainment for the inmates but a form of opportunity.

Jail administrator Mike Herman said Diane Turner of Tremont had been donating supplies to the jail for some time and was ready to take on a new project. They decided on a library.

Along with the donated books, the library has shelves built by the local vocational school and a reading program through the county learning center.

Turner says an inmate is categorizing the books.

Herman says the next step for the library is to begin acquiring books in Spanish.