"SMUTS" easy, original stories developed by the reading teacher for a specific population of students uses a basal vocabulary from "conventional" beginning reading books and includes some of the jargon and emotion-laden language of prison inmates. Ashton-Warner referred to this vocabulary as "organic" because the words hold intense meaning for readers. A group of prison inmates met with remarkable success in learning to read and improving their self-image by starting with the easy SMUTS stories to which they could readily relate. 7 references. (Author abstract)