Prison Dads Learn Meaning of 'Father' - USA Today

Even with her monthly visits, Makayla McGrath, 9, cannot get enough of her dad, Ricky Tisdale. This is their first time participating in the Returning Hearts celebration. It's the one time a year where family members can have physical contact at this maximum-security prison. Volunteer chaperone Sabrina Holt is at left.

By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

June 18, 2010

ANGOLA, La. — Keith Morse met his father when he was 7 years old in the visiting hall at Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola state prison.

Today, Morse is serving a life sentence in the same prison for murder. It's here that he sees his own 16-year-old son once a year during the day-long Returning Hearts celebration, a program that reunites inmate fathers with their kids.

On his prison cot, Keith Morse shows letters from his 16-year-old son Keith Towler, and his 17-year-old daughter Seaterara Patterson.  Morse, who is serving a life sentence for murder, is now a coordinator for Malachi Dads program at Angola.

It's a cycle — child following dad to prison — that Morse, now 35, hopes to break.

"None of us want to see our kids follow down the same path," Morse says. "None of us want to see our kids make the same mistakes we made."

More than 1.7 million children across the USA have a parent in U.S. prisons, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of children with a father in prison grew by 77% from 1991 through mid-2007. And those children are two to three more times likely to wind up behind bars themselves, says Christopher Wildeman, a University of Michigan sociologist who has studied the effects of imprisoned parents.

To try to snap that trend, Angola and other prisons across the country sponsor two programs aimed at reconnecting prison dads with their children: Returning Hearts, a day-long carnival-like celebration where inmates spend eight hours with their kids, and Malachi Dads, a year-long training session that uses Bible passages to help improve inmates' parenting skills.

Offenders from Camp D board the bus to return to their prison area after the Returning Hearts orientation program. Inmates must show good behavior to participate in the program, Warden Burl Cain says. Once they feel reconnected to their families, their attitudes improve, he says. About 2,500 inmates have participated in the program since 2005.

Inmates must show good behavior to participate in the programs, Warden Burl Cain says. Once they feel reconnected to their family, their attitudes improve, he says. Around 2,500 inmates have participated in Returning Hearts since it began in 2005. Malachi, which started in 2007, currently has 119 men.

Prisoner Danny Fabre prays with his second cousins, Brenna Joiner, 15, left, and Eric Joiner. He is one of 318 prisoners signed up to participate in the annual Returning Hearts Program at Angola. Inmates get a chance to be a "normal" with their kids and other family in this carnival-type setting. About 240 prisoners had their children, nieces or nephews come to the celebration from as far away as Texas and Kentucky.

"The ones who were problematic before are not problematic anymore," Cain says. "Prison didn't straighten them out; their kids straightened them out."

At this year's Returning Hearts celebration in May, inmates sat nervously on aluminum bleachers in the prison's rodeo grounds, waiting. One by one, their name was called out and they rushed to meet their children.

At Louisiana State Penitentiary, 120 inmates in the Malachi Dads program pray the day before the program's graduation ceremony. The year-long program is aimed at transforming the lives of inmates; it trains them to become better fathers and spiritual leaders to their children. It primarily uses Bible passages to help improve inmates’ parenting skills.

Edward Burton, a former New Orleans high school football player serving 60 years for armed robbery, was one of the last of the prison dads to be called. When his name was finally announced, he bounded down the bleachers and ran to his 17-year-old daughter, Kimberly Davis — the first time he had seen her in five years. He swung his meaty arms around her.

"I love you," Burton, 33, told her. "And I'm sorry."

The Returning Hearts event and Malachi Dads have taught Burton that there's more to parenting than buying milk or diapers, he says. Burton also grew up without a father, the middle of five children with a single parent in the Magnolia projects in New Orleans. He never learned the role of a dad, he says.

Wadelin Sumlin hugs his kids Sierra, 9, and Troy, 8. This is their first time participating in the Returning Hearts program.

"What I thought was a father before wasn't really being a father," Burton says. "Spending quality time with your kid is important. Learning what your kid likes and dislikes is important."

During the eight-hour Returning Hearts event, inmates and their children can play basketball, ride carnival rides, pet horses, buy burgers or simply sit and talk. A volunteer accompanies each parent-child throughout the day. Dads whose children don't show are escorted back to their prison dorms.

Kyle Hebert, 44, played basketball with his son, Matthew, 10, and bought him a new baseball cap. The two then sat and talked about school, Matthew's Little League victories,Tiger Woods, the New Testament and the Saints winning the Super Bowl. The eight hours evaporated in what seemed like a handful of minutes, says Hebert, who's serving 40 years for attempted first-degree murder.

Seeing his son stirs emotions.

"I'm grateful to be a part of his life," Hebert says. "But it's really tough. I'm watching him grow up without his dad out there. That's the hard part."

Burton and his daughter rode the merry-go-round together, had their faces painted, then found a quiet corner and prayed. When it was time for her to go, he cried.

"I told her, 'As soon as I get home, we're going to Disney World,' " he says later. " 'I don't care how old you are; we are going to Disney World.' "

Rehabilitating prisoners through better fathering is a growing movement, says Roland Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative. InsideOut Dad, a program run by the initiative designed to connect inmates with their families, started in 2004 at a handful of facilities and has spread to more than 400 prisons and jails nationwide, he says.

Jesse Trevathan scoops up his 5-year-old grandson, Gavin Portier, as they are introduced. Gavin is one of 574 kids from around the country visiting 247 family members who are inmates.

"This is a paradigm shift," Warren says. "People are saying we have to figure out a way to reduce recidivism. Connecting them to family and community is a key way to do that."