While Mustafa Wright was incarcerated at the D.C. Jail, he walked past a bulletin board and noticed a sign for a new dads’ group. The group would meet for 10 weeks.
He signed up immediately. Mr. Wright joined 15 other men looking to improve their relationships with their daughters. The class became the highlight of his week.
“I realized that I’m not the only person that’s going through the same things that I’m going through,” he told The Final Call. “I liked how my daughter was into the program and how that just kind of brought us together.
It was another form of bringing us together because I often have issues with her mother. I really don’t get to see my daughter like I want. The class was another way of developing a better bond with her as well. I also learned different insights from other people as well.”
This was more than a dads’ group. It was the brainchild of Angela Patton founder of Camp Diva Leadership Academy and the CEO of Girls For A Change, a nonprofit that prepares Black girls for the world.
While the dads were in weekly sessions, Ms. Patton conducted sessions with the daughters and their moms. Her work started over 10 years ago. The culmination of the program was a Daddy-Daughter Dance in the correctional facility.
“The dance created so many different emotions because we got to wear real clothes, suits, ties and slacks,” Mr. Wright said. “A lot of the guys had never wore a tie. It was me and one other guy helping everybody learn how to put a straight tie on. There was a lot of nervousness and butterflies.
Seeing our daughters like that was just crazy. Some of us don’t talk to them every day. It was a beautiful experience. But the worst part, for me, was taking the suit off and putting the orange jumpsuit back on, walking back to the unit, hearing the door closed. I was not good for the next two, three days.”
The D.C. Jail Daddy Daughter Dance was the second one planned by Ms. Patton; her first was in Richmond. The project is captured in the Netflix documentary “Daughters” which follows the lives of four girls and their dads.
“These little girls need their fathers. They need some type of male influence. Somebody to look up to, to understand what not to do and what to be doing. They need guidance. They need to feel our love and attention. That’s what they’re in the streets seeking, but they’re seeking it from the wrong things,” Mr. Wright said.
When dads do time, their children also do time
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, Black people were overrepresented in the number of people who reported having an incarcerated immediate or extended family member, having a family member incarcerated for more than 10 years, and having three or more incarcerated family members.
Black people make up 40 percent of the incarcerated population but only 13 percent of the U.S. population. Further, Black families, regardless of individual involvement with the criminal legal system, lose their loved ones to prisons and jails at higher rates than their White counterparts.
“When a man is incarcerated, the father is still supposed to be, according to the Bible and Qur’an, the head of the household. He’s the maintainer; he’s the provider. He’s the one who’s charged with making sure that the children are safe, that the family’s safe.
When you remove the safety net and you remove the provider from the household, and it really throws the whole family dynamic out of whack,” Student Minister Randy Muhammad, of Mosque No. 11 in Boston told The Final Call.
“Oftentimes, due to incarceration, these families have been broken up and they become estranged where children no longer have access to their fathers. They can’t go visit; it becomes difficult. Most of the prisons happen to be far from where the Black community is located.”
Across the nation, numerous county detention facilities have discontinued face-to-face visitation, leaving costly video calls as the sole visual means for inmates to connect with their loved ones. This eliminates the touch factor each parent and child needs.
A recent study by the Prison Policy Initiative claims that the latest communication technology, intended to enhance connectivity between inmates and their families, is actually causing more harm than good.
This innovative system, designed to facilitate contact with incarcerated individuals, is reportedly having negative consequences, according to the organization’s findings.
“To the degree that the father can maintain a relationship with their children, where they’re in constant communication, through phone calls or letters or visits, I’ve seen a difference in their children’s behavior. I’ve seen their children function through society and not get caught up in the pitfalls,” Student Minister Muhammad said.
