SEVERSON: Authorities rarely ask convicts about their family, their children. It turns out that keeping families connected may go a long way toward ending the cycle of crime. The crime link between generations is striking -- half of all kids in custody have a family member in jail or prison.

Mr. GIBBONS: I think that breaking the chain is important. Either that, or we just have to build prisons as fast as we can. And we don't want to do that. Who would want to do that?

Warden LYNN CAHILL-MASCHING: I know a lot of moms whose daughters have come to the institution. I know that.

SEVERSON: Warden Cahill-Masching believes that severing an inmate from her children only increases the chances the child will end up like its mother, who is very often the only parent the child can turn to.

Warden CAHILL-MASCHING: This is about the next generation. This is about the benefits to the children. The family unit -- the community. The community wins in that most of these moms are going back into the community. So while they are here, why don't we see what we can do that is positive for the whole family?

SEVERSON: The warden has heard the criticism, from victims' rights groups who think women convicted of violent crimes should not be coddled, and skeptics who think criminal moms can't possibly serve as role models for their children.

TIFFANY: A lot of people seem to feel that way -- if you are here for a violent crime, you should not have that opportunity to spend time with your family or your children.

SEVERSON: Tiffany has taken six years of college-level classes and thinks she knows, better than anyone, the difference between right and wrong.

TIFFANY: I told him my actions were wrong. I took a life. That is something that I will deal with the rest of my life, even when I am out of here in nine years. So when he has a problem, I tell him not to react in a violent way.

ANTHONY: I used to get kicked out of school for fighting. Then I started telling my mom about it and she said just walk away, and after that I just started staying in school a lot more.

SEVERSON: (to Anthony): How are you doing in school?

ANTHONY: Good. Straight As again.

SEVERSON: The mothers try to give their kids things that were often missing in their own lives, like moms and a sense of family and God.

AUDREY: What do I tell you, baby, that God is good, to keep praying. Pray for me to come home soon.

SEVERSON: Reading is another way Mom and kids stay connected. Sponsored by an interfaith ministry called Aunt Mary's Storybook Project, mothers are allowed to narrate books on tape, so their kids can hear Mom reading a bedtime story.

TIFFANY: He's kept every tape like from when he was four and five -- and if I couldn't call and we were on lockdown or something, he would have that tape with my voice. It's a positive thing.

NANCY SCHREIBER (Aunt Mary's Storybook Project): Our primary reason for doing this is to keep the bonds between mother and child strong. Every place I know, every place I go, people want to know who their parents are.

SEVERSON: Latoya's boy hurt his hand, so his mom practices what she's learned from parenting class, required schooling for all moms who come to day camp.

LATOYA: Mommy doesn't like to hear you cry because I get sad, okay?

SEVERSON: The day rushes by, and at the end of it, moms know what it feels like to be a mom.

CAROLYN: It's draining. It is a good tired feeling, you know -- it's something that I know was good and I got some joy out of it, and it isn't like hard-pressed labor, so it feels good.

TSUNG: Mommy, are we going to leave camp right now?

LATOYA: You can come back next year. Next year is the last camp and after then I will be home. You don't want to leave me? It's going to be okay. Give me a hug.

SEVERSON: What they believe strongly here is that even though they have committed terrible crimes, moms on the inside can often do more than anyone on the outside to break the cycle of crime.

I'm Lucky Severson for RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY in Dwight, Illinois.