Wings of Hope

Here's a new CD title housing a collection of lullabys and preschool songs. Not overly eye-catching until you read the headline to the article- Prison Inmates Croon for Kids.

This article in the Beacon Journal states that "A new state-sponsored children's album recorded by prison inmates features songs and poems by murderers, robbers and kidnappers -- and even musical consultation by a child rapist. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has touted last month's release of Wings of Hope as a family-themed compact disc that includes parenting tips, songs such as Old McDonald and This Old Man, and music composed by prisoners. The Ohio Resource Network and prison system had planned to hand out the discs to families of inmates, prison-related groups, children social services, public libraries and other community organizations. But now they will be limited to those with prison affiliations. (due to the participation of the child rapist)

Now in an effort to not come across as "holier than thou"...I can't for the life of me begin to understand the idea behind this. I'm all in favor in attempting to rehabilitate these poor souls so that one day they may be able to do something productive with their lives, but I tend to agree with the one person who already commented on this story (Ohio.com) that listening to the sample MP3 of some robber singing a lullaby song intended for a small sleeping child is just creepy! Having said that, I've got to believe that this may have been a very sobering experience for the participatory inmates who have children at home. Any thoughts out there?