/ For people serving time, books have long been a means of education, self-actualization and connection. Advocates are speaking out about a new policy banning family, friends and third parties from sending books to incarcerated Iowans, who must now buy books themselves and only from approved vendors. Locked up in a cell for 23 hours a day at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Anji says one way her brother is coping is by reading a book a day. “He's able to receive one book a day. And he's been trying to power through reading one book a day, basically,” she said. “This is going to put a huge damper on that just because of the fact of, if they're not working, they're not going to have the income. And they're going to have to rely on friends and family who are already stretched themselves.”