The A Roma, Insieme (To Rome, Together) Association recently implemented an initiative at the Rebibbia Women’s Prison in Rome in favor of women inmates with very young children (ages 0-3).
The purpose of the project, which is entitled, A Library of Books for People Big and Small, is to create an opportunity for the women prisoners to forge stronger bonds with their pre-school children by spending some quality time with them, especially through shared reading. Consequently, the pre-school wing of the prison now includes a small library containing about 150 carefully-selected titles at the disposition of the children and their mothers.
One of the key features of the project is formation: in fact, specialized workers in this field met with the mothers six times to show them how to use the texts and accompany them with activities suitable for children of that age group. The hope is that these mothers, in striving to form their children and help them learn, will find that they themselves are also learning.