{"id":5773,"date":"2025-03-13T13:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T17:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/?p=5773"},"modified":"2025-03-13T13:27:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T17:27:57","slug":"staying-connected-remain-in-touch-reading-program-incarcerated-parents-benzie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/staying-connected-remain-in-touch-reading-program-incarcerated-parents-benzie\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying Connected"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Incarcerated parents read aloud from Benzie County jail<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Beau Vallance
Current Contributor<\/strong>

Over the past three months, 44 Benzie County children have heard their parents\u2019 voices, reading aloud to them. This is remarkable, because these voices were coming from jail.

Among the many things that children of an incarcerated parent miss out on is the special bonding that comes from sharing a book, and all that that means for future learning. Children develop literacy skills\u2014listening, focusing, following\u2014before they can actually read, and children who are read to start school with a larger vocabulary, higher reading readiness, and increased likelihood of school success, generally. 

But for some children in Benzie County, the joys\u2014and associated benefits\u2014of having a parent read aloud to them have been beyond reach, until this spring.

Since April 2017, the Remain In Touch program at the Benzie County jail has allowed children to hear an incarcerated parent reading aloud to them\u2014and it has not cost taxpayers a penny.

So far, 25 inmates have been recorded while reading books for their children, some repeatedly\u201444 children have received one or more CD recordings and books; a total of 102 books and CDs have been mailed home.  

\u201c[RIT] gives an outreach to the inmates that they wouldn\u2019t normally have,\u201d says Lieutenant Daniel Smith, a Benzie County jail administrator who enthusiastically supports the program, noting that inmates \u201cabsolutely\u201d look forward to each session.

Why It Is Needed<\/strong>
Nationally, 5.1 million children under the age of 17 have had, or currently have, at least one incarcerated parent. Michigan ranks among the top five states in the nation for the percentage of children who have had a parent in jail: a total of 228,000 minors, or 10 percent of Michigan children, were affected as of 2011, the latest statistics from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. 

Knowing the statistics about early childhood development, Connie Eisenhart set out to address the gap between children and their incarcerated parents. Eisenhart taught in the Wayne-Westland Community schools before retiring to Leelanau County in 1995, and several of her students had incarcerated parents. 

In 2016, Eisenhart founded Remain In Touch (RIT), a non-profit literacy program to help incarcerated parents in Leelanau County to stay connected with their children through reading aloud via recordings. Eisenhart was inspired by a similar program downstate, in Washtenaw County, called Staying In Closer Touch. 

RIT expanded to Benzie County this past spring. 

Through this program, inmates in both counties have the opportunity to select a free book for each of their children, 0-12 years of age, as long as there is no personal protection order that restricts contact. As the inmate reads the book aloud, the story is recorded digitally, and then the recording and the book are sent to the inmate\u2019s children, allowing the parent to \u201cremain in touch,\u201d and thus bridging the gap that exists during the time of his\/her incarceration, according to RIT\u2019s website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How It Works<\/strong>
The Benzie program currently runs on only three volunteers. Kay Leers, a retired teacher and Benzie resident, coordinates the program and represents Benzie County on the RIT board of directors. She also coordinates the three volunteers, in addition to managing the inventory and mailings.

Every other Tuesday, a volunteer goes to the county jail, where there is a cart with more than 200 new books that have been purchased through donations. The books are grouped by age-appropriateness, for ages 0 to 12 years old. The guard gives the volunteer a list of those parents who want to read. Inmates choose from the cart of books; one book for each child. The volunteer sets up in the jail\u2019s library with a recorder, and inmates are called in one by one; volunteers and inmates exchange no personal information, besides names. 

The volunteer and the inmate shake hands, introduce themselves, and sometimes the inmate will ask for guidance in selecting from among the books. Some are adept readers, others less so, but they become comfortable when reading \u201cto their children,\u201d in the volunteer\u2019s presence. (Grandparent readers are also welcome, and the Benzie program recently had its first grandparent reading to two grandchildren.)

The inmate reads aloud, sometimes with a short introductory or concluding comment\u2014maybe the book was a childhood favorite of the inmate\u2019s, or \u201cThis is a scary book!\u201d for a child who is into horror stories, for example. If it is a short children\u2019s book, the inmate usually reads the whole thing; if it is a \u201cchapter book\u201d for a child who can read, perhaps the first chapters are read aloud by the inmate, so that the child can continue reading on his\/her own. 

Recording sessions run until each participating inmate has read one book for each child, typically about two hours. On the program\u2019s very first day, 21 books were recorded.  

The volunteer burns the recording onto a CD, then mails the CD and the matching book to each child; each child at home receives an individually mailed package, addressed to him\/her. The book and the recording then belong to the child, who can listen again and again, continue reading the book on his\/her own, and share the reading with a sibling or with friends. 

One child, reports a volunteer, listens to the recording every night at bedtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing It To Benzie<\/strong>
Bringing the program to Benzie County has been a community effort, with partners including Benzie Cares for Kids, Benzie Early Childhood Workgroup (0-6) from the Human Services Collaborative, and Brilliant Books in Traverse City. 

Eisenhart credits Sarah May, coordinator of the Benzie County Human Services Collaborative, with organizing the Benzie County branch of RIT after Headstart coordinator Jennifer Kelly read about the Leelanau program in an October 2016 article in the Leelanau Enterprise<\/em>. Kelly invited Eisenhart to speak in Benzie County the following month.

\u201cSarah [May] really ran with it,\u201d Eisenhart says, and less than five months later, the Benzie program was up and running.

The stories of the recording sessions show the value of the program.

One man had the idea of reading a page aloud, then timing a silence that would be long enough for his wife, at home with the child, to read the next page\u2014in effect taking turns, as they would if he were at home.

Another, reading a book that he had not previously known, was astounded at the surprise ending.

\u201cWhoa! I never saw that coming!\u201d he said and laughed on the recording.

Another inmate had a baby who was born during his incarceration, and when the facilitator suggested reading to the baby, the inmate said, \u201cDo you read to babies?\u201d He was encouraged to introduce the newcomer to the sound of his voice through the program.

One inmate, pressed for time, opted to read the back-cover summary of each book, one for each child.

Two inmates hope to donate to support the RIT program when they are out. One decided not to record after all, hoping to go home that day and not need it. Another predicted a long series of sessions, building quite a library for the child at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Books<\/strong>
Staying In Closer Touch\u2014the similar program in Washtenaw County\u2014previously developed a master list of titles. RIT uses that list but also adds to it.

Some well-known titles, among the 140 now on the list, include: Goodnight Moon, On the Night You Were Born, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, All the Colors of the Earth, Sarah Plain and Tall, Where the Wild Things Are, Grace for President<\/em>, and Paint the Wind<\/em>.  

The program avoids religious books\u2014they would have to cover all religions otherwise. Holiday-themed books with a limited \u201cshelf life\u201d are also avoided.

For security reasons, all books are brand new. Donations and small grants cover the cost of the books, purchased from Brilliant Books in Traverse City at a 20 percent discount and picked up by Eisenhart, who delivers to both the Leelanau and Benzie programs. Brilliant Books donates the bookmailer packing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Results<\/strong>
No one involved in Remain In Touch can find a single downside to the program. It was approved quickly when proposed to the Benzie County Sheriff\u2019s Office and jail staff. \u00a0

\u201c[RIT has been] nothing but positive for the inmates,\u201d says Smith, the jail administrator. \u201cThere\u2019s been no negative feedback\u2014they really like it and absolutely look forward to it. They love doing it. It\u2019s a great program!\u201d
\u00a0
The inmates are nothing but grateful, and offenders who stay in touch with family are less likely to re-offend\u2014studies have shown that prisoners who maintain strong family and friendship ties during imprisonment, and those who assume marital and parental roles upon release, have lower rates of returning to poor behaviors than those who function without family ties, expectations, and obligations.

\u201cThe inmates love the opportunity to connect with their children,\u201d Kay Leers says. \u201cSome have cried in gratitude, saying, \u2018This is so wonderful, what you\u2019re doing.\u2019\u201d

The volunteers love the work. Leers, a retired teacher, has been involved in many literacy programs, but \u201cthis is different\u201d; as a board member and coordinator, she says \u201cI just feel uplifted, I guess.\u201d

The best part, though, is that the children hear their parents reading to them at home, from real books.

For more information on the program, visit\u00a0RemainInTouch.org<\/a> online. To\u00a0donate to the program, visit that website or visit Brilliant-Books.net\/RemainInTouch<\/a> to see a list of books that can be bought online and held for the coordinator to pick up in Traverse City.<\/em>

Featured Photo Caption: <\/strong>A new reading program at Benzie County jail. Photo by Beau Vallance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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