In the United States, more than two million Americans are in prison, and 50 percent of those inmates have children under the age of 18. That means more than 1 in 28 children have a parent in prison, up from 1 in 125 children 25 years ago.
In Ontario County, volunteers have teamed up to help re-connect families through literacy: the Storybook Program offers imprisoned parents the opportunity to record audiocassettes or CDs of themselves reading to their children. The program is the subject of a new documentary called Turn the Page, which has been submitted for the Unite Rochester Challenge. It will be screened at The Little Theatre on February 11.
We discuss the Storybook Program, the documentary, and the prison system in America. Our guests:
- Linda Moroney, filmmaker and director of Turn the Page
- Claire Kremer, founder of the Storybook Project