Photo by Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

Last evening, Makeba and I hosted another edition of Family Life Behind Bars radio.  I started things off by speaking to Bobby Blanchard, the Director of The Children’s Center at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.  She spoke about the program, how it helps to sustain the relationship between the mother and child, and the obstacles presented by the prison system that both the mothers and their children face.

Next, we brought in Linda Moro, the Teen Director of the center to talk about the type of the issues that teens there face, and how the center goes about addressing them.

Johnathan Santiago, 22 talked about his personal experience with growing up with an incarcerated mother who’s serving a 25 year sentence at Bedford Hills.  Hear what he had to say about the center, how he’s been able to sustain a relationship with his mother, and how he refused to succumb to the same circumstances.

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