A STATEWIDE PROGRAM IS HELPING TO CONNECT INMATES AND THEIR CHILDREN. RILEY’S READERS GIVES INCARCERATED PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS A CHANCE TO BE A PART OF THEIR KIDS LIVES, EVEN IF THEY CAN’T BE THERE PHYSICALLY. OUR PEYTON FURTADO SHOWS US HOW. PRESS THE BUTTON AGAIN WHEN FINISHED. EVERYONE HAS AN EXTRA AWESOME PERSON IN THEIR LIFE. THAT PERSON FOR ME IS ALL OF YOU. MY MOMMY. FAR FROM THE COMFORT OF A FAMILY ROOM WHERE A CHILD’S BEDROOM MORE THAN 470 INMATES CALL THIS CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE HOME. AT LEAST FOR NOW. WE’RE COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS WHERE WE’VE GOT 15 MONTHS LEFT FOR THEIR CHILDREN. LEATH CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION IS THE ONLY PLACE THEY GET TO SEE THEIR MOMS OR THEIR GRANDMAS. AND WE’VE COME ON A SPECIAL DAY. AND THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT, ISN’T IT? THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE TOGETHER AND TO HEAR THAT CHILD’S VOICE, JUST LIKE THAT CHILD GETS TO HEAR YOUR VOICE WHEN YOU RECORD THESE BOOKS. THROUGH RILEY’S READERS, PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS BEHIND BARS RECORD BEDTIME STORIES FOR THEIR KIDS. IF YOU CAN IMAGINE A CHILD CRYING JUST TO BE WITH THEIR MOM, AND FOR THAT GRANDMOTHER TO HAVE THAT BOOK TO OPEN UP AND SAY, YOUR MOM IS HERE, LISTEN TO HER VOICE, HER SOOTHING VOICE IN THIS BOOK, HER SAYING, I LOVE YOU IN THIS BOOK. AND TO KEEP PUSHING ON THE MOM’S SIDE. THIS GIVES THEM THE ABILITY TO SAY, I REALLY WANT TO STAY OUT, I WANT TO WHAT I WANT TO DO IS RAISE MY CHILD, NOT RAISE THEM IN A PENITENTIARY SETTING LIKE WE’RE DOING TODAY. WITH THE HELP OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, $25,000 GRANT, THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS HAS GIVEN PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS MORE THAN 1000 BOOKS TO RECORD. MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY! HI. YES, EACH ONE GOING TO A CHILD OR CHILDREN WHO MISSED THEM WHEN THINGS ARE QUIET. YOU KNOW, I DO THINK ABOUT THEM AND WHAT THEY HAVE GOING ON. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THINGS I COULD HAVE BEEN DOING WITH THEM. BUT YOU’LL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE IN A FEW MONTHS. YEAH. THE PROJECT REHABILITATING PRISONERS AND KEEPING THEIR CHILDREN FROM A SIMILAR FATE BY PROMOTING LITERACY AND CONNECTION WITH THEIR FAMILIES, EVEN THOUGH THEIR MOMS CAN’T TUCK THEM IN FOR BED. IF THEY CLOSE THEIR EYES. FOR ALL THOSE REASONS AND SO MANY MORE. THAT’S WHY I LOVE YOU. IT’S ALMOST LIKE SHE’S THERE. I LIKE IT.
Moms behind bars send bedtime stories home to their children
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Updated: 1:18 PM CDT Jul 9, 2025
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A statewide program is helping inmates and their children stay connected, and it just hit a major milestone.Far from the comfort of a family room or a child's bedroom, more than 470 inmates live in the Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina. "We're counting down the days. We've got 15 months left," said one woman as she sat with her children Tuesday.Leath Correctional Institution is the only place where families of incarcerated people get to be together right now. But there is a way for them to bring a part of their family members home.Through Riley's Readers, parents and grandparents behind bars record bedtime stories for their kids. "If you can imagine a child crying just to be with their mom, and for their grandmother to have that book to open up and say, your mom is here, listen to her voice, her soothing voice in this book, her saying, 'I love you' in this book, and to keep pushing," Lisa Engram said. Engram is an interim deputy director at the South Carolina Department of Corrections. "On the mom's side, this gives them the ability to say, 'I really want to stay out. I want to do, what I want to do is raise my child, not raise them in a penitentiary setting like we're doing today,'" said Joel Anderson, interim director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections.With the help of the state's department of social services and its $25,000 grant, inmates have recorded more than 1,000 books. Each one is given to a child or children who miss them. "When things are quiet, you know, I do think about them and what they have going on," said one person in the institution. "And, you know, what things I could have been doing with them." The project is rehabilitating people in prison and building positive futures for their children by promoting literacy and connection with their families. Even though their moms can't tuck them in for bed, if they close their eyes, it's almost like she's there.
GREENWOOD, S.C. — A statewide program is helping inmates and their children stay connected, and it just hit a major milestone.
Far from the comfort of a family room or a child's bedroom, more than 470 inmates live in the Leath Correctional Institution in South Carolina.
"We're counting down the days. We've got 15 months left," said one woman as she sat with her children Tuesday.
Leath Correctional Institution is the only place where families of incarcerated people get to be together right now. But there is a way for them to bring a part of their family members home.
Through Riley's Readers, parents and grandparents behind bars record bedtime stories for their kids.
"If you can imagine a child crying just to be with their mom, and for their grandmother to have that book to open up and say, your mom is here, listen to her voice, her soothing voice in this book, her saying, 'I love you' in this book, and to keep pushing," Lisa Engram said. Engram is an interim deputy director at the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
"On the mom's side, this gives them the ability to say, 'I really want to stay out. I want to do, what I want to do is raise my child, not raise them in a penitentiary setting like we're doing today,'" said Joel Anderson, interim director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
With the help of the state's department of social services and its $25,000 grant, inmates have recorded more than 1,000 books. Each one is given to a child or children who miss them.
"When things are quiet, you know, I do think about them and what they have going on," said one person in the institution. "And, you know, what things I could have been doing with them."
The project is rehabilitating people in prison and building positive futures for their children by promoting literacy and connection with their families.
Even though their moms can't tuck them in for bed, if they close their eyes, it's almost like she's there.
