Summer Camp In State Prison: A Chance To Bond With Dad

Enlarge this image toggle caption Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR

On the list of activities for this summer camp: visiting Dad in a maximum security prison. The nonprofit group Hope House runs three camps to keep children connected with incarcerated dads who might not be close to home.

There are also plenty of arts and crafts, mosquito repellent and campfire songs.

Enlarge this image toggle caption Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR

Carol Fennelly founded Hope House in 1998, after a Washington, D.C.-area prison was closed, sending thousands of inmates to far-flung institutions. That made it difficult, and sometimes impossible, for relatives to visit.

Enlarge this image toggle caption Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR

Enlarge this image toggle caption Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR Shereen Marisol Meraji/NPR

Today there are three Hope House camps: one in North Carolina and two in Maryland. Fennelly also partners with groups that run summer camps in New Hampshire, Texas and California.

Inmates usually find out about the program through word of mouth or prison social workers. Dads are eligible if they have clean conduct for a year and take a parenting class.

I spent the end of summer camp with nine Hope House kids and traveled with them to visit their fathers at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Md. That's a maximum security state prison. I shared the experience on Weekend Edition Saturday.

You'll want to hear the kids tell their own stories, so listen to the audio above.