Visitations between children and parents who are inmates at the Weld County Jail take place over a computer -- the visitors in one room and the prisoner in another. It's a system that isn't very conducive to bonding, but Kyle Ward, a professor and researcher at University of Northern Colorado is looking at a novel approach to help families stay connected to each other.
Most of the inmates who are eligible to participate in the program are in jail for low-level offenses and scheduled to be released within a year or two. Ward told Colorado Matters about a program he started in which inmates read children's books, attaching a personal message at story's end. Ward records the session, then creates a CD that's sent to the family at home. The recordings aim to help ease an inmate's re-entry into family life. Here's what one sounds like
