Jail Program Helps Parents Reconnect With Children After Release

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Pamela Boardwine will see her five children – a 15-year-old daughter and two sets of twins ages 14 and 4 – for the first time in 17 months when she’s released from jail on Monday.

Boardwine, 34, said Thursday she’s very nervous about the reunion because she’s afraid she’s lost their respect. But she finished a parenting class offered by the jail that she said could help mend the gap and make up for lost time.

“Everybody makes mistakes,” said Boardwine, one of eight inmates who graduated from the class on Thursday. “We think we know everything, but there’s a lot that you can learn.”

Court documents show Boardwine was ordered to spend 219 days in the Sullivan County jail after she pleaded guilty in June to identity theft, forgery and theft of under $500 for stealing a friend’s checks and cashing them herself.

Prior to this sentence, she spent 10½ months in the Virginia State Penitentiary for similar crimes – forgery, grand larceny and burglary – that she committed in Bristol, Va.

Boardwine said the crimes were the result of her addiction to crack cocaine, heroin and other drugs she’s struggled with for most of her life.

Being in jail, she said, has helped “set her mind at ease” and get her clean from drugs. The jail’s parenting classes have been a large part of the process because they gave her something to focus on during her days of incarceration.

Boardwine said one of her most important lessons stemmed from the classes’ bonding component, which helped her realize she didn’t have a perfect relationship with her children before going to jail.
“I’ve talked to my children but I wasn’t always there for them,” she said.

The parenting classes follow a curriculum known as “Guiding Good Choices,” said Linda Brittenham, an educator with the Sullivan County Health Department who taught the classes.

The inmates meet for three hours each Thursday, Brittenham said, and cover topics such as forming a bond with children, anger management, learning how to refuse something and financial management. Similar classes have been taught throughout the community at churches, YWCA halls and other venues.

She said the jail has offered the classes once before, but Thursday’s event was the first time it has held a public graduation ceremony for the students.

“We really wanted to offer each and every one of you this opportunity,” Brittenham said while passing out certificates of completion. “We want you to take it to heart and not come back.”

Marsha Rose Keller, another inmate who graduated Thursday, said the program helped her learn how to manage her anger. Most of the anger, she said, comes from her childhood when she was mistreated by family members.

“Someone would say something stupid, and I would go crazy,” Keller said, describing how anger complicated her life. “Whenever I get angry now, I know I need to sit down and re-evaluate how I act.”

She was ordered to spend 11 months and 29 days in jail after she was found to have violated terms of a probation agreement that stemmed from a 2005 conviction for drug possession and failure to appear in court. She said she’s looking forward to seeing her 10-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter when she’s released March 6.

Keller said the class will also help when she’s out of jail because it showed her that no matter what happened in her past, she’s in control of her life.

“This is something I can say that I did because I wanted to do it,” said Keller, who plans to put the same level of determination into staying out of trouble once she’s released.

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