Only on 10: Former inmate prints books for prisoners

A local family publishes books and catalogs for a captive audience.

Their customers are behind bars.

A cook book includes recipes like Mystery Meat Tacos, Killer Frito Pie, and Prisagna.

Publisher Diane Schindelwig proudly shows off her products.

“This is a self-help book, spiritual,” Schindelwig said of another book.

And not as spiritual.

“This is ‘Sexy Girl Parade,’” she said.

You can find Schindelwig's publications on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but most of her target audience can't go out shopping or even on-line.

“Our main marketplace are inmates and their loved ones,” Schindelwig said.

She started Freebird Publishers out of her Dighton home four years ago.

“We learned that there's really no resources for the inside population of inmates,” she said.

There's a catalog for considerate prisoners to buy gifts for people on the outside for the holidays, as well as weddings or the arrival of a baby.

The Inmate Shopper has articles and pictures of women and lists lawyers and other services for prisoners.

The aforementioned Cell Chef.

And what about those racy photos?

“Beautiful women and beautiful men of this country -- they sell,” Schindelwig said. “It's a big business out there, inside and outside.”

Schindelwig said her business is needed.

She speaks from experience, having done five years behind bars for conspiracy to deliver drugs.

“How are you supposed to re-enter society and be successful if you can't maintain some kind of reality with the outside world? “Schindelwig said.

It's a family operation. Schindelwig's daughter, Martha-Dee Schindelwig, helps out and so does her mother.

“It's important because my mother went through it and I know how difficult it was,” she said. “I think there's probably a lot of people out there who've had someone or know someone in or out of the system and can relate to it.”

Inmates can order by mail or loved ones can do it on-line.

But prison authorities are watching what comes in.

An inmate at the ACI in Cranston was upset after the prison denied him access to one issue of a catalog. He sued the Department of Corrections, but recently lost his case.

Schindelwig said the catalog in question wasn't hers, but was a previous version of Inmate Shopper published by the Arizona death row inmate she bought the publication from a few years ago.

Court documents show the ACI said the catalog had banned content, like "pen-pal resources" and "sexy-girl pic sellers."

The Department of Corrections declined an interview, but wrote to NBC 10 in a statement, noting that they look through the mail for inappropriate material or security risks.

"This particular publication is not subject to a blanket ban, but it is reviewed on an issue-by-issue basis. On this occasion, the publication violated several security procedures..."

That's why Schindelwig makes a censored version of Inmate Shopper.

“If they have a problem, there's only two reasons there's a problem, pen-pals or sexy photos, non-nude sexy photos. And we just send them the censored version,” she said.

Schindelwig said she's sold thousands of publications, but isn't getting rich doing it.”

“You have to have heart and dedication to be in this business,” she said.

And a unique one it is.