Prison program helps inmates connect with their children

DEER LODGE, Mont. (AP) - Montana State Prison inmate Jesse Harrison smiled under his face mask as he showed the small clay pot he was painting to fellow inmate Jeramie Carr, who was in the midst of some beadwork.

At first glance, the two burly men might have seemed out of place in the private, home-like interior of a former maintenance building on the prison grounds. But after a little while, it was evident just how at home they were.

The Deer Lodge prison is pioneering a first-of-its-kind program intended to help incarcerated fathers connect with their children despite the barriers of a prison and a virus. Both Harrison and Carr were among the first 36 men chosen to pilot the program.

It is called CAMPP, or Connecting Adults and Minors through Positive Parenting.

Montana Correctional Enterprises’ Education Director Marisa Britton-Bostwick, who helped craft the grant application that secured nearly $700,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice for the program’s first three years, said the primary goal of CAMPP is to eventually remove the children of these incarcerated men from the state’s over-burdened foster care system by ensuring the men have the parenting skills needed when they reintegrate into their communities.

For that reason, Britton-Bostwick said the initial round of about 500 applicants was whittled down to prioritize men within five years of release who have one or more children within the foster care system. Interviews with the applicants were also conducted to ensure the men wanted to participate for the right reasons.

In 2019, nearly 4,000 Montanan children were in the foster care system. A 2017 study conducted by Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center based in Bethesda, Maryland that conducts research on children and child well-being, concluded that Montana ranked second in the nation behind West Virginia with a rate of 16.8 children per 1,000 in foster care.

“When you see these children light up when they see their fathers, it’s powerful,” said Terryl Gochanour, grant coordinator and educator for Montana Correctional Enterprises. “These children deserve their fathers.”

Carr has about two years left on his sentence and said that even though reconnecting with his two daughters, ages 10 and 4, has been difficult for all of them, the hard work has been exceedingly rewarding.

“I was definitely not focused on my kids like I am now,” Carr said about his past, adding that CAMPP has given him a positive outlook on his future. “There’s nothing I want more now than to get out to be with my kids. It’s given me a whole other outlook.”

Harrison is serving the last three years of his 10-year sentence. He and his two daughters, ages 10 and 7, are also participating in the program.

One of the more difficult aspects of program for Harrison has been shifting from a prisoner to a father.

“I’ve really had to learn how to let my defenses down,” he said, pointing out the stark contrast between prison yard conversations and talking to “two little girls who like unicorns and guinea pigs.”

Sherry Carlson, one of CAMPP’s parenting instructors, said that shift is a key component to the program.

“We have to change their way of thinking,” Carlson told the Independent Record newspaper. “Maybe 98% of the men in this class have experienced trauma. The stories we hear are things nobody in this room are used to.”

For example, Carlson said some of the men would get defensive about their incarceration, and they had to learn their children have the right to be angry about it. Sometimes it’s as simple as learning how to address their children.

“We’re giving these guys ways to communicate,” Gochanour said.

After the applicants are selected, the permission of the children’s current caregivers is sought and some initial parenting instruction takes place.

The men move on to supervised letter writing before progressing to live video calls with their kids and a parenting instructor.

The 12-week program was originally intended to culminate in a three-day “camp.” Children and their guardians would travel to Deer Lodge and stay in a hotel on the prison’s dime.

Montana State Prison inmates renovated an old storage facility on the prison grounds that will house the camp in future years. Interior walls are painted with bright murals and a privacy fence was erected between the building and the prison for the benefit of the children.

While there, the children and their fathers planned to create “vision boards,” craft “All About Me Posters,” journal and garden.

The hope is to hold four camps a year for the next three years.

Britton-Bostwick said the creation and operation of CAMPP has been a highly collaborative effort among a variety of state agencies from the get-go.

The University of Montana provided an evidence-based curriculum that the men could complete on their own in their cell. Both the state’s Department of Public Health and Human Services, which runs the foster care system, and Office of Public Instruction are consulted on a regular basis to ensure the children are emotionally healthy during and after what can be a challenging experience.

Montana chapters of Big Brothers Big Sisters also help to keep tabs on the children.

“It’s important to have that support network,” Britton-Bostwick said. “It can be a very isolating experience to have a parent incarcerated.”

Like every other facet of life, COVID-19 threw a wrench in the plan, and the team had to quickly pivot.

The in-person camp has been canceled, but all the activity materials were boxed up and sent to the children, even the flower pots, soil and seeds. A “virtual camp” was held Aug. 10 to 17 that featured a virtual recital put on by the families as a grand finale.

Harrison said his fellow inmates have been asking him constantly about CAMPP.

“A lot of guys see what’s going on. People are excited about it,” Harrison said. “I’ll tell you what it’s done for me and my kids. It’s given us a second chance at being a family.”

Carr said watching the new relationship he has formed with his daughters grow over the course of the program has been life-changing.

The fathers and children are given matching T-shirts sporting the CAMPP logo, mostly so the men do not have to interact with their children in prison garb. Carr said it is a near daily battle between his wife and his daughters to get them out of those shirts.

“She has to rip that shirt off of them because they think I’m still wearing it,” Carr said. ” … They (Montana State Prison staff) could easily sit back, stick to the same old job and get the same paycheck. It does mean a lot.”