For many years, Johnson County Library has provided outreach services for some teens and adults in the Johnson County corrections system. Now, those programs are expanding under the leadership of Incarcerated Services Librarian Melody Kinnamon. Kinnamon chairs a core team of staffers helping to connect incarcerated citizens to the Library, and she praises the entire group’s efforts. She’s especially grateful to long-term team members Kate McNair, Scott Stone and Debbie Frizzell for their commitment to this mission.
Kinnamon has held several positions since she came to Johnson County Library in 2002, including as a reference librarian and community branch manager. But the book “Just Mercy,” about justice and redemption, galvanized her. “I just kind of had a heart for the social justice issues that surround our criminal justice system,” she said, noting that Bryan Stevenson’s 2014 best seller “planted a seed” and sparked her passion to work with this population. Kinnamon co-chaired the incarcerated services team with McNair in 2018 and took the lead in 2019.
(Read more: Shawnee Mission Post)
