Recorded Book Program Keeps Dodge County Jail Inmates Connected with their Children

Book recordings help the children of those incarcerated. (Beaver Dam Daily Citizen, 9/30/2011)

Excerpt:   The program started after programs director Aaron Ellis started looking into different options that offered a way for children to hear their parent's voice while their parents were incarcerated.

"The individual is serving time for their sentence for their wrongdoing," Ellis said. "The child had nothing to do with that. The overall goal in corrections is to better people and their behavior. We don't want the children to feel negative impacts from their parents being incarcerated. So we do stuff at different times of the year. This is one we've been able to develop for year ‘round."

After researching different options, including recordable greeting cards, Ellis and the jail administrators adapted what some other facilities were doing to a program that would work for the Dodge County Jail population.

"We could do something for the children, as far as the recording of the parent's voice," Ellis said. "It was a book to read to help promote literacy and sort of ease the stress on the children. We looked at different options. We came across recordable books that we order from wherever they're available. We only charge what the cost of the book is plus shipping. We decided from the very start that this was going to be a break-even project. We're not looking for profits."