Every once in a while... a journalist gets to do a story that makes an immediate difference.  Our Solving Problems Special Report: Opening Prison Doors... has accomplished that. 

It was very  gratifying to be able to push the right buttons (in the Governor's office & in the OK Dept. of Corrections) to help a child see his father behind bars.  That child hadn't seen his dad in THREE years... and was a very sad little guy when I met him a few months ago. 

Thanks to his volunteer "Big Brother" letting me know that the prison kept turning them away... the child is now able to see his dad... who, despite making some very bad decisions (convicted of armed robbery), is still immensely important to the child.  The prison had initially refused to let the boy in to see his dad with the Big Brother because the Big Brother wasn't related to the inmate, as prison rules require.  However, the Big Brother is the only person in the child's life who's able to drive the boy down to the prison in Stringtown, OK. 

Thanks to the Governor's office working with us... the prison made an exception to the rule, in essense considering the Big Brother to be "family."  The boy was all smiles after seeing his dad... and he's looking forward to visits now, every other month or so.  My hope is that this case also opens doors for other children like this. 

Bottom line:  even if some inmates committed such heinous crimes that they might not deserve to see their children... the children didn't do anything wrong... and deserve the chance to reconnect with a parent.

Good story,but thats only one kid out of countless kids who don't get to see their parents or parent.It must be nice to know the right people.

I completely agree.  James is just one child out of many.  That was precisely the point of the story... to show that it took extraordinary steps-- getting in touch with a news reporter... who got in touch with the Governor's office... to finally open some doors.  Because of those efforts... and because of profiling that one child... the prison system as a whole in Oklahoma is now looking at Big Brother/Big Sisters very different, hopefully paving the way for many other "Jameses" across the state.

Well put.I LOVE YOU MAN.

Its wonderful you were able to accomplish this. Every prison has its own rules. The child was related to the inmate, and whatever responsible adult available to bring him should have been allowed on the visitors list without the Governor's office getting involved. All I can say is "Shame on the warden at Stringtown."

Prison is for crimminals not children. That idiot should've thought about his child before he committed the acts that led to his incarceration. Every day I'd like to smack the *** outta someone at work, but knowing the consequences of my actions stops me from getting out of control. I say tell the kid his father would rather be a worthless piece of crap than see him, because that is the truth. Otherwise the idiot never would've committed the crime to put him in prison in the first place.

mahoal_fenian:

Prison is for crimminals not children. That idiot should've thought about his child before he committed the acts that led to his incarceration. Every day I'd like to smack the *** outta someone at work, but knowing the consequences of my actions stops me from getting out of control. I say tell the kid his father would rather be a worthless piece of crap than see him, because that is the truth. Otherwise the idiot never would've committed the crime to put him in prison in the first place.

Everyone makes mistakes, that child could learn from the mistakes the father made. Even by seeing him where he is could scare the poor little guy, I dont see anything wrong with it. Its not like he went into the prison were they keep the inmates. It is safe and doesn't look like anything but a room with tables and chairs with snack machines.

Whats the big deal.

I am glad he got to see papi!

You are real ****** .  I certainly don't know you but you're just downright rude, crude and socially unacceptable.  You have no conscious.  Go ahead and hit the guy at work just so you can sit beside him in his cell.  My daddy always said people like you have as much class as a crow bar.