TDOC Seeks Help for Children of Inmates November 16 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - They are often considered the forgotten victims of crime.  Children of inmates are the most severely at-risk children and youth in American today.  In fact, they are six times more likely than other children to end up in prison themselves.  The holidays present a particularly hard time for them.

“Image being a child waking up on Christmas morning not to have your father there or any gifts,”  said TDOC Volunteer Services Director Richard Dixon.  That’s why the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Prison Fellowship Ministries Angel Tree Program have teamed up to help make the holidays a little better for thousands of Tennessee children.

The public’s help is desperately needed in this effort.  Inmates sign up for their children to receive Christmas gifts from Angel Tree volunteers on behalf of the incarcerated parent.  “When kids receive a Christmas gift from a parent who is away, they know that they are loved and remembered even if they can’t be together,” said Mary Kay Beard, an ex-inmate who founded the Angel Tree Christmas Program in 1982.

There are 2,800 children of inmates in Tennessee in need of help this season.  They include:

Memphis - 685 children
Nashville - 600 children
Jackson - 204 children
Knoxville - 91 children
Murfreesboro - 42 children
Columbia - 61 children