"When there were five vendors, 77 books were available for purchase and 24 of the titles were coloring books." They've added a sixth vendor, but it doesn't say how many titles are available now.

I think this is truly shameful. I can't think of any good reason to deny inmates books with a few exceptions. Much like increased costs to make phone calls or replacing in person visits with expensive video-conferencing technology this is just another way to extract some money from prisons.