Jail reading program helps parents stay connected with kids

At first, Tim Stailey warily eyed the tape recorder held in front of him, but when he spoke there was no sign of uneasiness in his voice.

"Hi, this is daddy," Stailey said before reading his daughter the book "Frozen Noses." "I hope you're going to have a very nice Christmas."

Stailey, 34, of Mundelein, is one of the Lake County jail inmates participating in a new program to stay connected with their children.

With the cooperation of the College of Lake County and a group of literacy volunteers, prisoners can record themselves reading a book to their children.

When the recording is complete, the book and the compact disc are sent to the child so he or she can read along with the incarcerated parent.

Richard Riddle, program director at the jail, said the "Read To Me" project is an offshoot of parenting classes already offered to interested inmates.

He said the taping began last month through a grant CLC received to buy the books, and with tape recorders and blank compact discs provided by the jail.

Urged by organizations such as the Malachi Dads and the National Fatherhood Initiative, the reading project is a crucial part of teaching inmates to accept responsibility, Riddle said.

And, just as crucial is the contact it fosters between parent and child.

"Nationally, about seven percent of children who have an incarcerated parent will wind up incarcerated themselves someday," Riddle said. "The people we are trying to reach with this, in a lot of cases, did not have a dad to read to them."

The reading program in some ways acts as an enhancement for personal jail visits with their children that many parents do not like to have, he said. Those who have those visits are left with a half-hour of the surreal experience of looking at their children through a thick plastic window and speaking to them on the phone.

Laura Sherwood, CLC's literacy coordinator, works with volunteers to bring the books to the inmates and make the tapes.

She said the books are sorted to be age-appropriate for the child being read to, and inmates are asked to read to children between the ages of 2 and 9.

For Stailey, who is awaiting trial, said he was grateful to have the opportunity to read to his children.

"It gives us a chance to give our kids something," he said of the program. "It is a way to hold together a broken relationship."