Iranian judge Qasem Naqizadeh in the city of Gonbad-e Kavus has set up a new ruling that aims to get offenders back on the right fund with reading rather than lengty jail terms. He issued an order that has replaced jail sentences for “light crimes” with reading.

Naqizadeh points out that the “punishment” of literature will force violators of minor felonies to buy five books from a list of texts, read all of them and write reviews to be read by judges. The book list was chosen so that prisoners could make use of them regardless of their literacy level and knowledge.

Imprisonment was found by the judge to have “irreversible physical and psychological impact on convicts and their families.”