EPIC fantasy Game of Thrones is the most popular among NSW prisoners borrowing from jail libraries this year - with true crime titles often requested, but denied.
George R. R. Martin's hit book was followed closely in 2019 by another fantasy novel - A Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond E. Feist - as well as the partly-fictional autobiography Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.
Library services manager Toni Kennedy said while some of the state's "roughest and toughest" enjoyed a good thriller, the Twilight saga's vampire romance novels were also popular among inmates.
"True-crime tops the list of inmate books requested, and rejected, but it should go without saying that those books are banned," Ms Kennedy said.
Assistant commissioner Carlo Scassera said Corrective Services NSW's library department was established by Ms Kennedy in 2003.
It now has seven staff and numerous inmate library clerks working across the state.
All prisons have one to four libraries, varying in size from a cupboard to a full facility.
"It's a way for inmates to learn something new or disappear to another world for a while," Mr Scassera said in statement.
"It's also a chance for some offenders to improve their literacy skills, which can assist them post-release, as well as a management tool for staff to keep inmates busy."
Top non-fiction picks include the Macquarie Dictionary, the RMS Road Users' Handbook and Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.
The most read books in NSW correctional centres, including St Heliers at Muswellbrook, in 2019:
- A Game of Thrones - the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series
- Shantaram - a partly fictional autobiography about an Australian prison escapee who lands himself in Bombay, India
- A Darkness at Sethanon - a fantasy novel in a trilogy
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by late Swedish author Stieg Larsson
- Crime Scene Cessnock - a murder mystery set in the NSW Hunter's Pokolbin Valley
- AAP
