I just read about this program that allows prison inmates to make audio cassette recordings reading bed-time stories for their children. Part of me wants to believe this is helping these inmates to realize what they are missing out on with their own children and bolster their efforts to rehabilitate and reintegrate into society upon parole. Another part is just livid............ who is reading bedtime stories to the children whose fathers or mothers may have been murdered by one of these inmates?
Literacy program for prisoners, childrenBy Suzanne St. Yves
The Prairie MessengerWINNIPEG (CCN) -- The Children of Inmates Reading Program (CHIRP), which began at Brandon Correctional Centre (BCC) two years ago, was the brainchild of Pam Foster, who had been assisting her husband in the Sunday chapel services. Foster would sing and pray with the men at the medium/maximum security facility. She remembers how one son of an inmate thought his dad was dead. She began to wonder if there was a way to connect families beyond the bars.
She came up with the idea of fathers reading storybooks into audio cassettes which would be sent home and used at bedtime. After researching her idea, she found only one parallel project in the United States in which incarcerated mothers read on videotape. Knowing that literacy could reduce recidivism, she wrote to well-known children's author Robert Munsch who sent a letter to his publisher. Thanks to these efforts, this innovative program operates solely on donations: Scholastic Canada supplies the books, CD Cassette the audiotapes, and Assiniboine Community College the tape recorder.
Foster comes into the correctional centre every four to six weeks and spends 20 minutes with each inmate who wants to read a story. Inmates must apply for the program, and they must pass a security check to ensure there are no restraining orders in place. They must also be interviewed by the chaplain.
The storybook lady, as one correctional officer dubbed her, recalls working with one "scary-looking guy" who was reading Munsch's Oonga Boonga. He started to laugh while reading it, and insisted that she not tape him until he recovered. She refused, saying that it would be important for his child to hear his father laugh.
"His inner child came out," she said. "It is a great equalizer." She loves to listen to the fathers read, sometimes prompting the men one sentence at a time, matching the taping to their reading skills and comfort level.
A combination of skills and faith allows Foster to carry on her ministry. She explains why prison ministry is necessary: "It is the only chance to get to these guys. The outside factors on the street are overwhelming and this is the only opportunity for intervention and for showing God's love."
The project has been rewarding for Foster. "I see how it touches their families and we must, as Christians, reach out to those who are lost," she said. "CHIRP makes a huge difference in the families after release. Many lives are touched by this project."