STORYBOOK Dads, a West Devon charity that helps prisoners to keep in touch with their children, is providing an audio production service for Taunton-based 40 Commando as part of its new 'Storybook Links' communities project.

Storybook Dads is based in Dartmoor Prison where inmates can record themselves on CD or DVD, reading a story which is then edited and sent to their children.

Chief executive Sharon Berry said: 'Although we have trained all the armed forces to copy our model, this is different because we are providing a direct service for armed service personnel and their families. We want to enable prisoners and ex-prisoners to give back to the community in the South West and this is one of the ways we are doing this.

'In the past month we have been sent about 50 recordings from 40 Commando marines, reading stories for their children, and our team of carefully selected prisoners at HMP Dartmoor has been editing them by adding sound effects and music to create personalised CDs.

'Producing stories for serving marines, many of whom are in Afghanistan, is a great way for prisoners to give back to society in a meaningful way and to develop a real sense of pride in their work.'

'Working in the community is a new direction for us,' said Sharon, 'But it enables us to have a couple of carefully selected ex-prisoners working alongside staff and build upon the audio and video production skills they develop while in prison and to put them to good use. Another avenue we are exploring is working with hospices to enable those with life-limiting diseases and their families to create a video montage of film, photos or messages as a treasured momento.'

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