How stories from prison help keep families together

The pioneering work of a charity based at a prison in Devon is in the international spotlight after a talk from TEDxExeter was selected to appear on TED.com, the 11th TEDxExeter talk to be featured on the global ideas channel.

In a moving talk at TEDxExeter in April, Alan Crickmore explained how Storybook Dads helps prisoners to keep in touch with their children by enabling them to record stories they can listen to at home – and how this benefits society.

“Every year in the UK, 200,000 children experience the shame and isolation of a parent in prison,” he said. “It can affect the children of prisoners very deeply – there can be problems at school and they are three times more likely to suffer from mental health issues.

“In so many ways, children are the overlooked victims of their parents’ crimes.”

Storybook Dads now helps inmates in more than 100 prisons in the UK to record stories for their children. The recordings are edited in a studio at Channings Wood Prison in Devon, where trained volunteer prisoners add music and sound effects before the stories are transferred to CD or DVD to be sent to the children.

More than 60,000 CDs and DVDs have been sent to the children of prisoners since the charity was founded in 2003. Storybook Dads has also inspired similar programmes in countries such as the USA, Australia, Denmark, Hungary and Poland.

“Over half of prisoners lose contact with their children and families,” said Alan. “But we know that those who maintain contact are six times less likely to reoffend, so helping prisoners to stay in contact with their children and families has a clear benefit for society as a whole.”

Sharon Berry, Founder of Storybook Dads, said: “It has been a pleasure working with Claire and the TEDxExeter team and we have been delighted by how well Alan’s talk has been received both locally and internationally. When I set up Storybook Dads in 2003, I would never have imagined that the concept would have taken off like it has and to think that Alan’s talk would reach a truly global audience. We are grateful to TEDxExeter for giving us a platform to share our ideas and we look forward to seeing Storybook Dads continue to grow as more and more people learn about the social benefits of keeping parents in contact with their children while in prison.

Claire Kennedy, licensee and curator of TEDxExeter, adds: “This is a rare honour and testament to the emotional impact of Alan’s talk and the power of Storybook Dads’ work as well as the hard work of our team in helping him to prepare in the months leading up to this year’s TEDxExeter.

“It’s fantastic that many more people will now learn about the work of Storybook Dads and we hope that spreading their ideas will have a positive impact for the families of prisoners around the world.”

Alan Crickmore practised law for over 30 years before being convicted of fraud and sent to HMP Channings Wood. While serving his sentence he developed new skills and was active in prison education, assisting in teaching English and maths to prisoners of limited ability and experience.

Latterly, Alan began to work for Storybook Dads, a charity which promotes family ties between prisoners and their children. Since his release, Alan, who lives in Gloucestershire, has continued to work for Storybook Dads from home and is an ambassador for the charity.

To watch Alan’s talk, How storytelling helps parents in priston stay connected to their kids, visit: https://www.ted.com/talks/alan_crickmore_how_storytelling_helps_parents_...

For more information about Storybook Dads, visit storybookdads.org.uk.

TEDxExeter will return on 5 April 2019. For ticket news, visit www.TEDxExeter.com and subscribe to the newsletter.