When one or both parents are incarcerated the family is also incarcerated and are adversely affected in profound ways that exacerbate existing structural inequalities and struggles. Programs for inmates and families like FamilyWorks and the Storybook Program, encourage rebuilding and maintaining relationships despite being separated by prison.

Description:

When one or both parents are incarcerated the family is also incarcerated and are adversely affected in profound ways that exacerbate existing structural inequalities and struggles. Programs for inmates and families like FamilyWorks and the Storybook Program, encourage rebuilding and maintaining relationships despite being separated by prison.

The Osborne’s FamilyWorks program, the first comprehensive parenting program in a men’s state prison founded in 1986. FamilyWorks operates as a counterbalance to the numerous challenges in keeping a family together, such as the high cost of collect calls to inmates, long distances to prisons.

The Storybook program in at the State Prison for Men in Concord, New Hampshire is a little different than at other prisons across the country. This is run by the Department of Corrections (DOC) instead of a nonprofit or grassroots organization that can function as a link between the men inside and their communities outside. This non-narrated piece shares some of the experiences and changes that these fathers experience, but also some of the stories and messages they read to their children. 

 

Featuring: 

Gia Corrigan

Marni Corrigan

Kim Corrigan

Frankie Corrigan

James (Jim) Corrigan - FamilyWorks Graduate

Jean Louis - FamilyWorks Graduate 

Emani Davis - co-creator, instructor of FamilyWorks Curriculum

Elizabeth Gaynes - President and CEO of The Osborne Association, founder and instructor of FamilyWorks program

Dr. Karl Mazza - co-founder/creator/instructor of FamilyWorks Curriculum, DSW, LMSW, Professor of Social Work at Lehman College of the City University of New York 

Giovanni Monroe

Kristina Toth - New Hampshire Department of Corrections Administrator, and founder of Family Connection Center

David Johansen

Holly Johansen

Tony Hebert

 

Credits:

Producer: Sylvia Ryerson, Lisa Bartfai, R.J. Lozada

Producers: Anita Johnson, Marie Choi, Monica Lopez, R.J. Lozada

Executive Director: Lisa Rudman

Audience Engagement Director: Sabine Blaizin

Development Associate: Vera Tykulsker

Special Thanks:

Laura Roan 

Jonathan Stenger

Elizabeth Gaynes

Brenda Maietta 

Gabriella Kenner

Steuben Vega

For More Information:

FamilyWorks, Osborne Association [1]

Parents in Prison, Sentencing Project [2]

Parents and Their Children, Trends 1991 - 2007 [3]

[1] http://www.osborneny.org/programs-down/reconnecting-families/familyworks/

[2] http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Parents-in-Prison.pdf

[3] http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Incarcerated-Parents-and-Their-Children-Trends-1991-2007.pdf