Sometimes, people ask Kate Madlem why in the world she volunteers her time to work with inmates in jail.
She's involved in an innovative program called "Read Me A Story" that allows incarcerated parents to read children's books and send a recording of their reading to their kids.
Madlem gets tremendously positive feedback.
"We hear the child wants to listen to Daddy every night before they go to bed, or the child wants to play it over and over again to hear Mom. It's very clear how important that connection is for the child," she said. "It means a lot to the inmates too."
Now in its fifth year, Read Me A Story is part of Friends Outside in Sonoma County, a nonprofit agency that provides services to families affected by incarceration.
It's affiliated with Friends Outside National, which aims to reduce recidivism, help ex-offenders and family members be productive members of society and break the legacy of incarceration that gets passed on to children.
With Read Me A Story, the intent is for the children to know they are loved and not abandoned. It also can help the inmate bond with their child.
"The hope is they will feel that connection and want to go home and be a better parent," Madlem said.
She is among three volunteers who visit male and female inmates who ask to participate, mostly at the North County Adult Detention facility, which holds minimum- to medium-security inmates.
Friends Outside said they work closely with the Sheriff's Department to make the program work and ensure there are no restraining orders against the inmate by family members.
In the first six months of this year, 114 inmates participated.
With a device that records to a compact disc, they capture the inmate's voice reading, to be played to their child or children.
It might be just five minutes of "Pooh's Grand Adventure," "Dr. Seuss," "Clifford, The Big Red Dog" or "Dora the Explorer."
The CD and book are then mailed to the child.
"A lot of children are very thrilled to hear their parent's voice, even though they realize the parent is not there with them. It brings them closer," said Kate Jenkins, executive director of Friends Outside in Sonoma County.
More than 170 children were recipients in the first half of this year.
The program is also intended to promote the importance of reading, as well as the joy of reading together.
"Occasionally, you can tell it's the first time a parent has read a book to a child," Madlem said.
Inmates in the North County facility typically are serving time for alcohol- and drug-related offenses, or waiting to get into a drug treatment or rehab program.
For many, especially the fathers who haven't had a bedtime-story connection with their kids, it can be an emotional experience.
"They know they let their kids down," Madlem said.
In some rare instances, the volunteers with Read Me A Story work with inmates who are about to be sent to prison for many years.
"It's heartbreaking. The parents are going away for life and reading to a 3- or 4-year-old," Madlem said.
Jenkins said that Madlem not only helped launch the program, but is a "tried-and-true volunteer."
For her part, Madlem is modest about her contributions and said her two fellow volunteers, Suzie Clark and Judie Filippa, also deserve credit.
For now, no more volunteers are needed in the reading program. But there is a need for children's books and donations to buy them.
Books can be dropped off at the Friends Outside office at the main jail, but donors are asked to call the agency first at 526-7318.
You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com.
