Focus turns to moms in prison

Divided families can reconnect in a program that puts cameras in the hands of visiting children

» Inmates' kids picture better lives

Within the confines of the Women's Community Correctional Center, five inmates got a slight glimpse of freedom Saturday. Many of the women share a history of substance abuse that has strained their family relationships, but these three hours spent with their kids were filled with hugs, smiles and hand holding.

A trip to the taro patches and gardens -- set apart from the prison's cramped quarters and barbed wire -- gave them a break from their bleak routine. Although still within the prison grounds, the women and their children were free to roam about the grassy area, picking flowers, exploring or just hanging out under a shady tree.

Wearing a flower behind her ear, Lillian Hussein posed for photos while donned in her prison garb. Some shots were taken in the garden, others with chain-link and barbed wire as backdrops. More were taken on her bunk and in her less-than-private bathroom facility.

The photographer was her 11-year-old son, Dylan. Hussein is serving a 20-year sentence for identity theft, so both Dylan and his younger sister will be adults by the time she is released.

Dylan is participating in ProjectFocus, a 12-week program that offers photography as a means of enhancing self-esteem, self-awareness and self-reflection for at-risk children. Aside from the prison session, four other children were taking pictures of their mothers at TJ Mahoney's halfway house and two are photographing mothers who are former inmates participating in a Women in Need program.

Photographers Laurie Breeden Callies and Lisa Uesugi began ProjectFocus about four years ago, with this session focusing on the idea of helping children shape better lives than those of their mothers. The photographs are later displayed at various venues; this set will be shown beginning Sept. 1 at Macy's Ala Moana.

The session, "Reawakening," is a collaboration with TJ Mahoney's Ka Hale Ho'ala Hou Na Wahine and the Women's Community Correctional Center. For this group of children, it was the first time they'd seen their mothers' living quarters.

The stark surroundings didn't upset them. In fact, many were happy to learn that their mothers were not behind actual bars like caged animals and that they had beds in which to sleep.

For Dylan, knowing where his mother is provides some sense of stability. "I don't have to worry about her anymore. She's not wandering around, doing something bad," he said. "I felt like I didn't know her. She was under the influence of drugs and not taking care of us. She hardly came to our house ... when she did, she would come and go fast."

The ProjectFocus experience will help them get reacquainted, he said. "She is getting better and taking better care of herself. She prays for us every night."