In a Louisiana state penitentiary, incarcerated men were able to dance with their daughters for one special night: many of whom had not seen each other for years.
The tear-jerking occasion was organized by the brilliant God Behind Bars, a nonprofit that partners with churches and ministries on behalf of jailed men and women, in Angola Louisiana.
“When I turned around and saw my baby in that dress and she busted out crying… I sobbed, man, and I ain’t no crier,” said Leslie, an incarcerated father in Angola, who participated in the dance.
It’s potentially fair to say that the United States prison system and its population have been the victim of an overly-intense focus on punitive justice rather than restorative justice. While every society will have people that must be taken out of it for the good of the community, the focus of any prison system has to be the point at which the inmate reenters society.
To that end, and pursuant to the best of Christian values that all men are created in the image of the Lord, God Behind Bars went above and beyond to put on an unforgettable night in one of the most notorious of all Louisiana’s prisons.
37 daughters attended the dance, aged between 5 and 20, with 29 fathers, each one of whom wore a suit donated by Amor Suits.
Other donations included the time and expertise of hair and makeup estheticians, a beauty product bag courtesy of T3 Micro, and decorations and floral arrangements by God Behind Bars.
A Thanksgiving dinner was prepared before the dance, which included pieces choreographed by the fathers.
“We’re supposed to be the worst of the worst and the hardest of the hardest… and we walk around like that sometimes,” said one of the inmates, named Kevin. “Seeing all of us together with our kids, the loves of our lives, with no masks… that was cool.”
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“It’s hard to put into words what took place at the first ever Daddy Daughter Dance inside Angola prison,” said Jake Bodine, founder of God Behind Bars, in a statement sent to Newsweek.
“I watched a group of men stand with pride and dignity, shedding every label the world had ever put on them. For one night they were not inmates. They were Dad. And the empty places in every heart were filled with joy, laughter, and a love only God can author.”
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