Photo: Yvette Barry
Bedtime Stories tracks a groundbreaking rehabilitation program at Risdon Prison in Hobart. Prisoners read storybooks aloud. The stories are then recorded onto CD. The CD is sent home to their children, along with the storybook so the kids can read along.
Listen to Bedtime Stories on ABC Radio National this Saturday, October 31, at 2pm.
You can also listen to it online at www.abc.net.au/rn/360
The program has been so successful that more than 100 prisoners are now involved. Prison educators say prisoners are reconnecting with their children through storytelling. They also believe that in some small way, the program is chipping away at generational crime, unemployment and low levels of literacy.
For this documentary, I visited the jail and spoke to the prisoners. I also visited their families and spoke to their children. I asked what difference stories make and whether, in stories, they may find hope.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Bedtime Stories on ABC Radio National's 360
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2 comments:
HI Erin,
Really loved your story today. I am currently putting together an edited collection of chapters on the theme of 'disruption' as a way of unlearning to relearn. It struck me that this was what the stories were doing for these paople in prison - forging lost connections through literacy. Would love to talk further about this with you if I could ...
Thanks Julie for the feedback. Send me an email and let me know more about the project. odwyerem@yahoo.com
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