Santa pays a belated call to inmates at Harris County Jail
Incarcerated parents reunited with children during Christmas party in lockup
It was three days late and the elves were wearing orange, but Santa Claus didn’t care.
His festive shouts of holiday greetings bounced down the sparse hallway as he marched toward his final delivery for the season, followed by a crowd of giftcarrying Santa’s helpers — all parents locked up in the Harris County Jail.
After a year hiatus from the program, Navidad en el Barrio returned to the local lockup on Thursday with bursting bags of gifts for 15 lucky inmates to give to their children during a special jailhouse holiday party. There was pizza and soda, presents and little red trees. There were sugary cupcakes and glistening decorations.
But best of all, there was the rare chance for incarcerated parents to sit down in person with their kids — and no visiting room glass in between.
“This is the best experience of my jail life,” said Lissette Guevara, a 31-yearold whose three children showed up for the holiday visit. The 12 women and three men picked to attend the party all earned their way there through good behavior and participation in one of the jail’s four re-entry programs.
But the goal of the festive visit isn’t just to reward the parents — it’s also intended to strengthen family bonds that could reduce recidivism and help keep kids on the straight and narrow.
“Children are very important for our community,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told the parents before the party. “We want to make sure that they have every opportunity to succeed.”
But kids with parents behind bars might need a little extra support to see a happy outcome.
“For one reason or another when they have a parent, loved one, somebody that’s been incarcerated, statis-
tics say that about 70 percent will end up incarcerated themselves,” Gonzalez said. “Now we can change that with opportunities like today.”
As the parents and kids exchanged smiles and tore open gifts, Gonzalez visited with each family.
“They made mistakes, but it doesn’t make them a bad person,” he told Ralph Malone’s sons, leaning down to reassure them.
The Pasadena 47-year-old is awaiting sentencing on assault and drug charges, but even as he sits in jail, the onetime Gulf War soldier is trying to work on bettering himself in the 90-day re-entry program targeted to veterans.
Making an impact
“I used to have to drink to go to sleep while I was in the Army,” he said. “In this program, I’ve gotten to the root of the problem — that I have a mental issue — and (am) learning how to cope with that. This right here made an impact on me.”
His boys, 13-year-old Ralph Anthony and 16-year-old Freddy, fiddled with their new toys — earbuds, a soccer ball, cologne.
All the gifts — a colorful smattering of age-appropriate offerings for each child — were paid for by Navidad en el Barrio’s year-round fundraising efforts.
The nonprofit, founded in 1987 by retired Houston police officer Israel Gomez, specializes in making the holidays brighter for underprivileged kids. That includes a gift giveaway to hundreds of Houston-area schoolchildren every year, a scholarship program and more.
The festive outreach efforts into local jails started in Fort Bend and later expanded to Harris County.
“We feel it’s so important that people know we do care about them even if they’re incarcerated,” Gomez said. “And if they can spend time with their children and know that law enforcement cares about them, then maybe they won’t become repeat offenders.”
‘Reunify the family’
Jennifer Herring, the jail’s reentry services director, echoed that hope — with a dash of evidence.
“Our focus is to strengthen and reunify the family,” she said. “We know that research says the more interaction they have with a parent the less likely they are to end up here.”
Although Malone’s sons flashed quick smiles Thursday, their father’s incarceration has been tough on the family. He told his wife to sell the car and any of his belongings — whatever she needed to get by.
He missed his younger son’s birthday, and the boy sullenly refused to say hi to him on a Christmas Day phone call.
But on Thursday, amid the hubbub of jail brass, reporters and Santa Claus milling about, all was forgiven.
When asked his favorite gift, Ralph Anthony was quick to answer: the soccer ball.
“No,” he said, “seeing my dad.”