For Shafiq, inside Sheridan Correctional Center, being a good dad while incarcerated means lots of emails and phone calls.
“Never underestimate the value of your presence in the lives of your off-spring,” he writes. “We are physically absent, but that does NOT preclude our being present in all the other ways that matter.”
Alexia Pitter, whose father has been locked up since she was 3, says “loving someone who is incarcerated means loving beyond the physical barriers of prison walls.
“It is a kind of love that stretches across concrete and wire, reaching places untouched by the material world.”
Of the more than 29,000 people locked up in the Illinois Department of Corrections, about two-thirds of them report having children. This Sunday, June 15th, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on WBEZ 91.5, the special Father’s Day episode of Prisoncast! explores the ways incarceration affects children, parents and families in Illinois.
Below are segments from the show. Listen to the entire broadcast on June 15th at WBEZ 91.5, the WBEZ app or wbez.org.
Here’s what’s on the Father’s Day episode
In the first hour of the show, we hear from a father and son who rebuilt their relationship while they were both incarcerated – together – at Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg. We’ll also hear listener-submitted tips from incarcerated parents about how they maintain relationships with their kids. We end the first hour with the story of Juan Hernandez, who fought the Illinois Department of Corrections for 18 years in order to earn his GED.
In the second hour, we hear from the John Howard Association about dangerously high temperatures inside some state prisons during the summer, and what they say the state should do about it. We also have a listener-requested conversation about dealing with grief and the death of a parent while you’re locked up, and visit the Moms & Babies program at Decatur Correctional Center – one of the country’s few in-prison nurseries, where incarcerated moms get to live with their infants inside the minimum-security facility.
Find the latest issue of the e-zine Two Roads mentioned in the episode here. The e-zine is published by a group at Kewanee Life Skills Re-Entry Center who chronicle the stories incarcerated men and women in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
What is Prisoncast!?
From WBEZ and Illinois Public Radio, Prisoncast!, is a statewide show and engaged journalism project that shines a light on Illinois’ prison system, and the people affected by it. Everything on the show comes directly from a question, idea or request from someone currently or formerly incarcerated in Illinois, or their loved ones. We report on prison conditions, take music requests, and broadcast sounds from the world beyond prison walls that incarcerated Illinoisans say they miss hearing the most. It airs on public radio stations across the state, so people behind bars and their loved ones on the outside can listen together, even while they’re apart.
Learn more about the project here.
Do you have an idea for segment or want to write to us about the show? Email us at prisoncast@wbez.org.
Alex Keefe is WBEZ’s engagement editor and the lead editor of Prisoncast!. He oversees engaged journalism projects in Chicago Public Media’s newsroom.
