Incarcerated parents in the Butler County Prison now have a chance to see and play with their children without screens or barriers.

Butler County Children and Youth Services, in collaboration with the prison, launched a visitation program in which children can visit their incarcerated parent in a designated visiting room without glass screens between them.

There, parents can spend time with their children, play games in the small gym and maintain bonds that can be difficult to maintain behind a barrier or a video screen.

All visits are supervised by a prison guard and a counselor provided by CYS.

“We just launched in January,” said Charles Johns, CYS director. “There’s been a movement in the state to better engage incarcerated parents”

The program is designed to help incarcerated parents maintain relationships with their children, he said.

Jessica Wagner, CYS caseworker, has seen firsthand the effect this program has on children in the system.

“I think it’s awesome,” she said. “It’s good for the kiddos.”

Wagner’s case involved a father who was incarcerated and his three children who were in CYS custody.

Before this new program, his children were doing video visits through Skype, though two of them refused. Wagner credits the in-room visits with providing the space for them to repair their relationship with their father.

“They’re now giving him hugs, which is way different than before,” she said. “He was able to restore that bond.”

While the children were once standoffish and skeptical, at in-room visits they began playing basketball and cornhole with their father.

That family is no longer meeting at the prison, as the father has been released, Wagner said. She already has another individual who wants to set up in-room visits.

She said that other visits, either over video or behind barriers, often make it hard for a child to engage with their parent and to stay interested.

Deputy Warden Jennifer Passarelli agreed, saying that often it makes it hard for children to understand the situation and connect with their parent.

In-room visits also make it easier for the counselor to help calm distressed children.

“I think it’s much healthier,” she said.

Warden Joe DeMore said he hopes that it can provide some incentive for prisoners to work toward.

The new visiting area is made up of two attached rooms.

“The sallyport area we lined with black padded floor mats to make it a soft play area for younger children. The gym floor was painted with a kickball diamond, and we have older gaming options like cornhole for them,” Passarelli said.

Not all prisoners qualify for these types of visitations, and only children who are in the custody of CYS are eligible for visits. For those whose children are in the system, the decision to recommend in-room visiting rights ultimately comes from CYS and the court system, Johns said. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

When a visit is arranged, CYS sends the prison a name about a month in advance, Passarelli said. The prison staff then makes sure the inmate is a good pick.

“Are they behaviorally appropriate?” she said. “Once we clear it, they (CYS) send us times and dates, and we find an officer to provide security.”

When the child and CYS enter the prison they are escorted through an area to the visiting rooms.

Parent and child meet in the visiting area with a CYS-provided counselor and a prison guard supervising the visit at all times.

Prison counseling staff bring in diapers, snacks and safe, age-appropriate toys to the visiting room.

CYS decides the length of each visit on a case-by-case basis.

Afterward, CYS and the child are escorted out, and the inmate helps clean up, making sure that everything is accounted for before returning to the living areas. “After all, we are a prison,” Passarelli said.

Behind the scenes, and away from the eyes of their children, inmates go through a number of security measures before and after the visitation.

“Inmates are strip searched and changed into a different uniform,” Passarelli said.

The program is fully funded by a case worker visitation grant given to CYS.

“It costs nothing,” Passarelli said. CYS takes care of the costs, and the prison provides the security.

The prison has also been developing a curriculum for incarcerated parents, Passarelli said. “A lot of people come here and they never got to be parents, and they don’t know where to start.”

This parenting curriculum will be open to all incarcerated parents, not only those cleared for visiting rights.