At Dukes County Jail and House of Corrections on Martha's Vineyard, we've stretched the term educator to include responsibilities beyond GED prep, reading, and current events. Now, the education program offers assistance to fathers within the jail by connecting them to local community agencies that can help them with their transition to the outside.

This innovative collaborative called "The Fathers' Group" is led by Peter Huntington, a teacher, group leader, carpenter, and father local to the island, and is funded through the Family Network/Family Center. Marney Toole is the Island director to this foundation and heads a family program through Community Service. As education coordinator at the jail, I had the good fortune to work with Peter and Marnie on this project.

Bringing together outside organizations and inmates is new to our education programs; however, the success of the program has made us realize a need and opportunity. One inmate reported of this fathers' program, "We don't talk about being a father downstairs in the common rooms; that's too personal, but we can here, and it's important. I am a father and I miss my kids, and still want to be a good Dad to them even if I am here."

As the result of the project's success, Duke county Jail and House of Corrections will offer the eight-week Father's Group in the fall and winter. Since the population turns over about every six months, this schedule seems to accommodate all. Even when the formal workshops are finished, Peter comes in every couple of weeks to meet with small groups of inmates who are scheduled to leave the jail soon. He also meets with new inmates who have issues around their children. Peter is also responsible for connecting inmates' families to local facilities that can help with transition and support.

Peter established a low-key and comfortable setting for discussions among the fathers. Food stimulates thought, and Peter always arrived with the goods. Apples or a bag of nuts went a long way toward helping these fathers find comfort. Peter guided the nine regulars through gentle open-ended questions about trust, disappointments, fears, and expectations. He helped to raise issues about relationships the inmates had with their fathers, their relationships with their children, and the connection between the two. One father reflected, as he bit into one of the apples Peter brought, "I see that not all of us can just move back in with our kids after being locked up; it's going to take some time and thought."

"Where do you see your children as adults?" Peter asked one day, and several answered, "on the street, or in jail." "Is that final?" Peter asked. "Probably," answered the young red-headed father. He focused on the table and picked at his shirt, while realizing the meaning of what he had said.

"Well, I think it's important that even if you are in jail and you can't make things the way you might like, you see yourself as a father. You can connect to your children, even if you think you can't."

One day Peter came with cut-out hearts, glue, colored paper, and frilly doilies. It was close to Valentine's Day, and Peter was going to see that all those important connections between fathers and children were made. At first there was some resistance, but with a bit of encouragement and a few laughs, the fathers were into the activity while at the same time, remembering times they had received letters and cards and what that meant to them. Peter took photos of the men and these were included with letters written to their children. One father commented that "making valentine cards was cool, showing my kids that I cared. They even sent one back to me." On this day I thought that the glue that held the cards together was also the glue that helped these men hold on to another day and another connection with their children.

Another time Peter focused on anxiety and disappointments, and asked how people can prevent passing our own fears onto their children. He recalled his own childhood fear of spiders and snakes, and another father chimed in recalling his fears of roller coasters. This father said he never had been able to ride them, but his kids love them. This father then told us how he solved the problem by inviting another friend along whom he knew loved roller coasters. That way the kids got to ride all they wanted, while he stayed on the ground, waved, and took the pictures.

The inmates reported on their childhood experiences that included beatings, spankings, and other forms of corporal punishment. Discipline was a hot spot for the participants, many of whom thought that spanking remained a necessary option for their own kids when all else failed. Household chores, bad language, skipping school, or running off were events that triggered memories of escapades; some seemed humorous, some more serious. Peter asked if they ever thought of disciplining their children by using positive methods, such as using things the kids were doing something right as reinforcement for good behavior. None of them did. Then Peter suggested that discipline is a partnership between father, mother, and child; that is, a way to organize events and experiences in order to set the stage for good behavior to occur. He explained that children learn faster with praise and suggested this as a step toward trust and relationships. The idea of fostering partnerships for child rearing is often a strange one to inmates because it involves trust-a difficult issue-but these fathers heard what Peter was suggesting. Peter and I knew from experience that some new ideas need time to percolate before they resurfaced into wisdom.

Over the eight weeks of the project, I saw a change in the participants. In the beginning they were stiff and edgy, sitting by themselves with little or no eye contact. Their arms and hands covered their faces, guarding themselves, and it was difficult for them to talk about their children. Little by little, they opened up, relaxed, and talked and talked and talked. By the end of the eight weeks, they could listen and hear, and they laughed with each other, made cards for their children, and allowed their pictures to be taken and sent home. They seemed to be softer, gentler, and more reflective. They were fathers trying to care for, and connect to, their children.

Katy Upson is the GED teacher and education program facilitator for the Dukes County Jail and House of Corrections on Martha's Vineyard. She can be reached at: kupson@gis.net