BOULDER — Behind the fences and walls at Riverside Women's Correctional Facility in Boulder, the holiday spirit looks a little different.
Incarcerated women are opening books instead of presents and reading them aloud so their children can hear their voices at Christmas.
(WATCH: Incarcerated parents give the gift of recorded reading for the holidays)
“I think that is going to be their Christmas miracle,” Brandi Clarke, who is a resident at Riverside, said. “It is definitely going to be mine.”
With support from the Preschool Development Birth to Five grant, the state library is collaborating with the Montana Department of Corrections for a holiday literacy-based family connection initiative.
“The overarching part of the program is just to facilitate reading between parents and their children,” Travis Anderson, the Department of Corrections Education Services Bureau Chief, said.
Through the grant, children of incarcerated parents will be able to see and hear their parents read the book.
In the past, it has just been an audio recording, but now children will get to see their parents’ faces as they read along.
“We know that reading is so beneficial to literacy, and math skills, reading skills, but also emotional well-being,” Corey Sloan with the Montana State Library said.
The book recording program started at the men's and women's state prisons. This year is the first time it has expanded to Riverside Correctional Facility and Crossroads Correctional Center.
Brandi Clarke has been in prison for five years and has worked in education there for three. She says she is excited to share a book that she remembers from her childhood, The Mitten.
Clarke said, “It is the biggest gift for me because I get to be a part of Christmas, and I think that otherwise I wouldn’t get to be there.”
That’s not the only gift Clarke is going to share with her three kids. “We do get to crochet, and we are going to crochet a pair of mittens to go home for each of our kids with the books, so we will get to send that.”
This year, around a dozen women participated in the program from Riverside, and over one hundred incarcerated parents across the state.
