PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A program started by the men at Graterford prison in Southwest Philadelphia is helping to rebuild the bond between father and child that is broken by incarceration.
A very special reunion years in the making finally happened on Monday.
“What’s going through my mind right now….a lot of emotions,” Karim Williams said.
The last time Williams held his daughter, Shamira, in his arms as a free mam, she was three years old.
“Me not being there really affected her a lot,” he tells KYW Newsradio.
For the last eight-and-a-half years, Williams was incarcerated in Graterford. He was released Monday morning, and his first stop was to surprise his now 11-year-old baby girl.
Karim Williams reunites with his daughter, Shamira. (Credit: Cherri Gregg)
The reunion comes thanks to FACT — Fathers and Children Together — a program inside Graterford that teaches men first how to be fathers, and then facilities meaningful visits to rebuild bonds strained by prison walls.
“We have a strong team…psychologists, psychiatrists, judges,” says Dr. Minnie Moore-Johnson.
She is the FACT program coordinator and says it’s about doing the work to better families:
“We are not trying to get mom and dad back together. This is only about the child.”
Williams adds getting to know his daughter inspires him:
“Fathers are needed out here in the streets.”
So he’ll make sure he never goes back to prison.