TDOC Offers Parenting Classes - October 29, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - One of the most important lessons inmates can learn while incarcerated is how to be good parents when they return to their children.  The Tennessee Department of Correction and the Nashville Area Association for the Education of Young Children have joined together to offer a new, comprehensive series of parenting classes to inmates at the Tennessee Prison for Women.

“The reality is if we ever want to break the cycle of incarceration, one of the ways we do that is by improving an inmates’ parenting skills so that they are better able to function in relationships with their children,” said TDOC Education Director Sharmila Patel.  The inmates learn how to communicate with their children, handle discipline problems, and deal with the different stresses that comes with being a parent.  “The women have told us they want to learn these skills to become better parents.  They don’t want their children making the same mistakes they did.  They want them to have a better life, just as all parents do,” said Candyee Goode, board member of the NAAEYC.

Studies have shown that children of offenders are more likely to go to prison themselves without intervention.  “If we want to reunify the family and save taxpayer dollars, this sort of programming helps to do that.  It makes our communities safer and the children are more likely to be productive,” said TDOC Commissioner George Little.

Classes are offered on Monday evenings from 6:30 - 8 p.m. at the Tennessee Prison for Women/Annex on Stewarts Lane.  A graduation ceremony will be held at the institution on November 5, 2007 at 6:30 p.m.