BooksForPrisoners.net was created by Bill Dyer, who grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1988, while working for DuPont Explosives, he was robbed and shot during a robbery at an ATM. Years later this experience led him to share his story in prisons, with the hope that it may prevent someone else from becoming a victim of crime. While attending Hood Theological Seminary in 2010, he felt compelled to make Restorative Justice his life’s work.
Since that time, Dyer has focused on leading an evidence based, in-custody restorative justice program in prisons that enables victims and offenders to have an active role in our justice system. While working in five north Florida prisons and leading 20 Bridges to Life programs, Bill has worked to create a space for victims and inmates that furthers healing and reconciliation, helps to restore victims and communities, and stresses offender accountability as a critical component of rehabilitation to increase the chances of successful re-entry.
As a result of the transformation that Dyer has experienced in programs for himself, and for crime victims and offenders alike, he created this website as a way to promote learning, healing, and growth that is available through reading books and learning from the expertise and experiences of other people.
This is why BooksForPrisoners.net provides a list of recommended books for prisoners. This site highlights Doing Time With God for those who would like to look through a "window" to see what it is like to participate in restorative justice circles in prisons.