Jeconia Vinson, who in Starting Over portrays a son going to visit his jailed father, said the role had helped him come to terms with his own father’s absence during his childhood. “I could feel this character’s pain,” he said.The New York Times, February 15, 2010

80,000 children have a parent in a NYS prison.

RTA videotapes prison performances and sends copies to family members.  This has a profound effect on children of prisoners who are able to see their parents as a positive role model and parents of prisoners who see the positive steps the prisoner is making

This is something my mother would want me to do  - she always helps people, visiting seniors and stuff like that. I can’t visit seniors so I help my fellow prisoners who want to change and better themselves; we can do that together. RTA Participant, Woodbourne

My son is an inmate at a NY correctional facility and in your program.   He recently performed in a skit he wrote and was very happy about the response he received from fellow inmates and visitors. This is a totally new area to him and he is so excited about it. Carmen, Mother of Prisoner-Participant