Prisoners read children’s books

I came across this article online today.  It describes a program that was originally started in the UK but is now being used in Australian prisons.  While being recorded on a CD, inmates read children’s books aloud.  The books and recordings are then sent to their children.  This program promotes a parent-child relationship between the child and incarcerated parent while improving literacy for all involved.

Quoted from the transcript of a news story:

FELICITY OGILVIE: The CD’s are sent to the children with a copy of the book. When one inmate’s four-year-old stepson got his first CD he started crying.

INMATE 3: His mum put it on for him and noticed my voice and started listenin’ to it and she said he had tears comin’ out of his eyes and tried to say he was tired, he wasn’t crying at all, yeah but every time like he plays up or be’s naughty, she puts the CD on and yeah, he’s fine.

Is there anyone in the IDOC who is considering how the treatment of prisoners is affecting their children on the outside?