Mary Jurich, former prisons’ librarian, dies - Chicago Sun-Times

Posted:

Mary Jurich, former prisons' librarian, dies

BY SARAH BARABA Feb 15, 2011 02:05AM

Mary Jurich, who died at age 83, led to effort to bring reading materials to state prisons.

Mary Jurich became a librarian with the Illinois Corrections Department not long after the agency was founded in the early 1970s.

Although she already had 20 years of library experience when she was hired, administrators at Stateville and the now-closed Joliet Correctional Center took time to warm to her ideas for expanding library offerings at the prisons.

"It contradicted their ideas and attitudes as to what type of resources should be available to prisoners," a former assistant warden at Joliet, once wrote in a personnel letter.

"The efforts of Mrs. Jurich provided the 2,600 prisoners with resources never before available to them. One of the most devastating punishments for a prisoner was to deny them library privileges," according to the letter, which was provided by Mrs. Jurich's family.

The facilities were marred by violence and riots, but Mrs. Jurich — who died Jan. 31 at age 83 of complications following hip surgery — managed to build up their libraries, put inmates to work and give them access to the world outside their cells.

"She believed just because a man's freedom was given up, they didn't have to give up their knowledge," said Edmona Gilliano, a librarian who worked with Mrs. Jurich for several years. "She saw to it that ... cells got a newspaper, the guys were happy to have her there."

According to her family, Mrs. Jurich was the first woman to be allowed behind the cell block at Stateville unescorted. Bringing with her two decades of experience working in the patients' library at a Downstate veterans hospital, Mrs. Jurich listened to inmates' interests and requests, and sought out contemporary best sellers, literary classics, legal research and niche magazines to stock her shelves.

"She would send a request around and either buy the books they needed or get them from another library," Gilliano said. "A couple guys worked in the library with her, filing books and helping her deliver to the guys on lockdown. There was always a guard sitting by the door."

Because Stateville's library was in a separate building from the main cell block, Mrs. Jurich and Gilliano had to walk across the prison yard to get to work.

"[The prisoners] were respectful to the librarians; the male guards may be another thing," Gilliano said. The inmates who worked in the library "that knew what was going on would be protective of us."

Earning the trust and respect around the cell block, inmates even warned Mrs. Jurich of impending riots to keep her out of harm's way.

"She was a tough lady," said her niece, Cathy Nagel. "Tough but loving."

Mrs. Jurich left IDOC in the late 1970s and worked as a secretary at a substance abuse treatment center in Woodridge. Honing her creative side, Mrs. Jurich was known for handcrafting decorations for the office, said friend Carla Mason.

Born Mary Piliponis on June 24, 1927, in Downstate Kewanee, Mrs. Jurich studied library science at what is now Dominican University. After graduating, she became a librarian at the VA hospital, and spent many years caring for her mother and twin brother John, who had a disability. In 1966 she married Joseph Jurich, who passed away in 1983. She was a longtime resident of Downers Grove.

"She spoke up for people that were being mistreated," said Mason, "and those who didn't have a voice."

In addition to her niece Cathy, Mrs. Jurich is survived by niece Mary Ann Karpowicz; three great nieces and nephews; one great-great-nephew, and several cousins.

Services have been held.

ObituaryChicago.com

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

Literary-Classics

Monday, February 21, 2011