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May 23, 2002

McKINNEY – As a Texas Cooperative Extension county agent, Carrie Brazeal has 23 years of experience at teaching others within her community. And as family and consumer science agent in Collin County since 1983, she has taught many parenting classes.

But about four years ago, Brazeal discovered a volunteer opportunity that would allow her to teach often-overlooked members of the community – male inmates at the Collin County Justice Center.

"I answered an ad for volunteers that came out in the paper," Brazeal said. The Volunteer Center, a non-profit agency that pairs volunteers with the organizations that need them, was looking for volunteers to work with the staff at the justice center.

"I'm always looking out for a new audience," Brazeal said, so she took her parenting education classes to the county facility and started the new parenting program there in 1998.

Keith Francis, program director, detention officer and chaplain at the justice center, is in charge of setting up the programs for residents there. "I plan and coordinate religious, educational, legal and social activities of the inmates," he said.

And that's where Brazeal's parenting class comes in.

From the beginning, this parenting program was different – aside from the fact that it is taught in a correctional facility. For one thing, all of Brazeal's students are male. For another, she never knows how long any individual will be in class, since county detention facilities aren't designed for long-term incarceration.

And then there's the fact that restrictions are so ... well, strict. For example, paper clips and staples are not allowed; pens and pencils must be distributed to each student before class and picked up after; and students aren't allowed to peek through the blinds that cover the windows.

But Brazeal, who is certified to teach several parenting programs, took all this in stride, and designed the new program to fit the needs of her students.

The facility – which opened the doors at its new location in 1994 – will soon be able to house somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,100 men, women and juveniles, Francis said. "When I started as a volunteer chaplain with the Sheriff's Department in 1979, our entire jail – with juvenile – was 50 to 60 people. Back then we would have two or three women (incarcerated). Now 16 percent (of the inmate population) is female."

He attributes much of this explosion in the number of inmates to the enormous population growth in North Texas counties, such as Collin County, and "the fact that so many more young people are getting into trouble because of the drug scene."

The new – and much larger – facility is operated under the direct supervision philosophy, Francis said, in which supervision by correctional officers is direct and constant with, and inmates have the opportunity to earn certain privileges, such as attending programs like the one Brazeal teaches.

"The class is once a week," for an hour and a half each Wednesday afternoon, Brazeal said. "All classes have to be pretty much self-contained" because a student in class this week might not be at the facility next week. "Each class has to be started and brought to some conclusion in the hour and a half."

Within that time limit, Brazeal and the 15 to 20 students manage to cover such topics as different parenting styles, child development stages and communication methods – topics that would be covered in any parenting class.

But these students have issues that other parents don't, Brazeal said. "The issue of how to keep in contact with their kids – that comes up very frequently. Some (inmates) have situations better than others – some kids don't even know where their dads are.

"Some (of the students) are married, some are not. Some of the mommies won't allow any contact with the dad, but I always encourage them (the dads in her class) to try to maintain contact."

The students in her parenting class range in age from late teens to mid-50s, Brazeal said, and their educations and backgrounds vary just about as widely.

And the classroom discussion varies widely too, Brazeal said. "The questions can lead to discussion of things I never thought of.

"I'm constantly amazed. It's a whole different mind set."

But the one constant is the parenting students' desire to make positive changes in their lives, and in the lives of their children.

"I think parenting is difficult at any stage, no matter what," Brazeal said. "When you have special challenges like they are facing, you need all the help you can get."