Presents from prison: How Manitoba inmates are able to read stories to their kids

Paige Woodford burrows into the corner of a couch and studies the colourful pages of the kids’ picture book All That I Can Be, listening to her dad read the Mercer Mayer classic about growing up and dreaming big.

The 11-year-old mouths the words but sits alone until her mom, Danika Letander, nestles in next to her. Together they listen to the deep voice of Kyle Woodford play from a recording.

It’s the only way Woodford can read to Paige, or any of the couple’s blended family of eight kids. His home at the moment is a prison cell inside Headingley Correctional Centre west of Winnipeg.

“It gets hard at times, because they cry and they get really fussy, and it’s only me,” Letander said about the kids, whose ages range from three to 15.

Woodford was arrested in March and is awaiting trial, though no date has been set. Letander has no idea how long she’ll be on her own.

What she does know is that Woodford’s voice soothes the kids, so she reaches for the recordings and books that go along with them.

“It’s amazing to have. It means so much that they can hear their dad,” Letander said.

“When I first got them, I cried a little bit. Now sometimes I close my eyes and I think he’s just there reading a book to the kids.”

The books and recordings are made possible through a program called Get the Story Out, run by the John Howard Society (JHS) of Manitoba‘s literacy department. It’s available to anyone incarcerated at the Winnipeg Remand Centre, Milner Ridge Correctional Centre, Stony Mountain Institution or Headingley.

Once a month, a volunteer records the inmate reading a book — or multiple books, if they have several kids. The recording is turned into a CD, which is gift-wrapped with the book and mailed out. An MP3 is also created and emailed.

“And then they get to hear their parent telling them a story and read along with the story, so it’s a really sweet program,” said JHS literacy instructor John Samson Fellows.

“I think it’s something that people forget, is that when we incarcerate someone, it’s not just punishing them, it’s a whole network and web of people, of families and communities. And the plight of children with incarcerated parents is really something that’s often overlooked,” he said.

“So maintaining that connection is really important … the sound of care, the sound of love.”

Woodford is limited to 15-minute phone calls, which leaves little time to visit with Letander and each of the kids, who live in Fairford in Manitoba’s Interlake region, some 210 kilometres from Headingley.

And that’s only if a phone is available.

“There’s only three or two phones in the range, I guess, and there’s a lot of people that want to talk to their family,” Letander said.

“After 10:30 p.m., he gets locked up, and we don’t hear his voice anymore.”

The first delivery of books and recordings arrived in late July, and they have made a world of difference, she said. There are four, one for each of the youngest kids: Celeste, 3, Kylie-Dania, 4, Daytona, 6, and Paige. 

“They slid it out and then they seen it was a book, and I was like, ‘Listen to the recording,'” Letander said.

“Once they heard their dad’s voice reading the books, they all got emotional.”

The program was first introduced 15 years ago but is being revived after the COVID-19 pandemic set it on the back burner.

“We’re sort of just getting back to full steam … so we’ve taken that opportunity to tweak the program a little bit,” said Samson Fellows, who also facilitates weekly literacy classes at the Remand Centre and helps formerly incarcerated people write resumés.

His partner, composer and singer-songwriter Christine Fellows, is adding musical arrangements as a volunteer, giving the recordings a professional touch “and making them extra special for the kids,” said Samson Fellows, who is also a well-known musician.

“Hopefully it’s something they can keep and cherish.”

Letander turns to the recordings regularly, particularly when things go a little haywire and she needs a break.

“They read along with him. It’ll be, like, a quiet hour maybe,” she said.

“When I wake up around, like, 2 a.m. and I can’t fall asleep, or I’m tossing and turning, I listen to it and it makes me cry by myself.”

Aside from some respite and a connection to Woodford, the recordings have helped in other ways, Letander said.

Celeste, who is three and has been nonverbal, is now pronouncing some words, like “Dad” and “Hi” and “Up” and “Down,” Letander said.

And Daytona, who never glanced at a book and was only interested in playing video games, didn’t pick up a controller for the first week after the recording arrived.

“Now he wants his dad to send more. He can’t wait for his next book,” Letander said.

The majority of the books for the John Howard Society’s various literacy programs are donated by Whodunit Mystery Bookstore and McNally Robinson Booksellers. The organization also just struck a partnership with McNally, which is offering books at a discount for the public to donate to Get the Story Out. 

“We’ve been using used books for a long time, but I really want them to be brand new. I think that’s an important part of opening a present, and what those children deserve,” Samson Fellows said.

The books and scored recordings are assembled at the John Howard office, packed with the child’s name on the front beside a colourful bookmark.

“It’s a present in itself,” Letander said.

That’s exactly how Samson Fellows hopes it comes across.

“We want it to be presented as a gift from their parent — make it something special, an occasion,” he said.

“There’s no real real way for [incarcerated people] to send gifts, so this is one way that we can kind of help them with that.”