Miami Federal Prison Holds Father-Daughter Dance
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) -- Inmates got to see their daughters at Miami's Federal Detention Center's father-daughter dance.
The Miami Herald reports that 13 inmates and 20 daughters gathered in a prison meeting room that was transformed into a ballroom for two hours.
The girls ranged in age from 4 to 18 years old.
Prison officials support the dance as a way to help inmates engage with their families and to prepare the inmates for the eventual release from prison.
The Miami dance was the first such event held in a federal prison. Officials hope to hold similar dances in other federal prisons around the nation.
Among the inmates who joined in the dance was Ernest Williams, 35. Williams is serving a 41-month drug sentence. He danced with his 9-year-old twin girls and his 13-year-old daughter.
"I haven't seen my girls in months, I could not believe how much they have grown," said Williams, 37, convicted of intent to sell crack cocaine. "I was so happy to see them but so sad that I will not be able to leave with them. I am here instead of being outside with my family because of the choices I made."
The dance was attended by national law enforcement officials including the BOP director and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
"You hope this will be transformational, that this dance gives these fathers something to look forward to," said Walter T. Richardson, the Miami-Dade Police Department chaplain who delivered the keynote address. "We want the focus not so much on what happened, what brought them here, but what kind of future they can have. Their daughters are their future."
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