Family Literacy in a Prison

Inmates reading with their children. Glennor Shirley, and Grace Schroeder, Librarians, oversee the program

Inmates talk about their family all the time. They look forward to visits and they want to see their children. In 2003, I introduced a family literacy program in one of the prisons, and was surprised at how popular it became. It was a program that promoted children and their incarcerated parents reading together. We placed children's books in the library, so the men could be familiar with reading the stories. In many cases it was the first time that they had ever read to and with their children.

Of the program, one inmate said "It couldn't get any righter than this"