Children visit incarcerated mothers
Children and family members arrived Sunday to visit mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters in prison in Madera County.
Funded by CDCR and Women and Criminal Justice, the new bus program known as "Chowchilla Family Express" transports visitors to the Valley State Prison for Women and the Central California Women's Facility. Family members can now catch a bus ride from all over California most Sundays through September.
"Can you see the need for this program to exist? Asked Ethel, who declined to give her last name. Ethel, who rode the bus from southern California with her 3-year-old granddaughter (a child she is now raising) for a four-hour visit with her daughter-in-law, the child's mother.
"When Michele first got here, she was so hostile; we barely got to see her. It was a whole year before she got to see her daughter. She will be out in 2009 and needs to do some planning on what she needs to do to stay out.
Jones' daughter was 6-months-old when her mother was imprisoned.
Inmate Beverly Lewis beamed when her mother surprised her by paying a visit.
"I can't believe someone would do something like this for us," Lewis said. "Especially helping those who can't afford it (travel). My mother doesn't drive."
Senator Gloria Romero also traveled on the bus with the inmates' families.
"There is joy in this room," Romero said in the visitors' room. "There is great family spirit. Grandmother's are meeting grandchildren for the first time. This can help them transition to success. They not only must succeed on the inside, but on the outside too."
Romero said there is funding this year in the state budget for the project.
"We will continue to fight to keep buses coming in. We will work to increase the four hours," she said.
"Its great to have a program to accommodate people and make us feel loved, inmate Lorrissa Jordan said upon seeing her mother unexpectedly. "They say, I have not forgotten you," she said.
Jordan said she is grateful her disabled mother had the strength to come.
"This is beautiful. I am blessed."
"We are excited about the Chowchilla Family Express," said Wendy Sills, CDCR associate director of Female Offender Programs and Services, "because it provides yet another rehabilitative option for so many women offenders. This bus program provides unique opportunities for female offenders to reunite with their children, who are in most cases hundreds of miles away.
"We remain committed to extending our responsibility for female offenders beyond their incarceration to improve their chances of success when they return to their communities."
Planning for the service began nearly two years ago, following the success of the "Get on the Bus" program, which is jointly sponsored by CDCR and the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. That program began in 1998 but only operated on Mother's Day and Father's Day weekends. The Chowchilla Family Express is an expansion of that program.
Lisa Gonzales and Marilyn Fields, volunteers with New Beginnings (drug rehab) were just two of the many people in attendance who helped organize the kick-off and ribbon cutting event.
"Eighty to 85 percent of the women here are here because of drugs, or crimes they committed because of drugs," Gonzales said.
"The female population here is growing by leaps and bounds," Fields added.
National Institute of Corrections research shows children who have regular parental visits demonstrate better emotional and social adjustment as well as a lower degree of juvenile delinquency. In addition, their parents demonstrate lower rates of recidivism and higher rates of family reunification when released. |
