Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Patrick Woodward.
Speaker 2: And I'm Jillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method
Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: Around the world, there are almost twelve million people living
Speaker 1: in prison. Every country in the world has prisoners. However,
Speaker 1: one country has a big problem with prisons. It has
Speaker 1: almost seventeen percent of all the world's prisoners. It also
Speaker 1: has the world's highest prison popular rate. This country is
Speaker 1: the United States of America.
Speaker 2: Experts have many reasons to explain why the rate is
Speaker 2: so high. They also have many different ideas about how
Speaker 2: they can decrease it. Some people want to fix the
Speaker 2: United States prison system by changing laws or making prison
Speaker 2: terms shorter. These ideas are very important. However, one female
Speaker 2: police officer named Kim Boguki has another very different idea.
Speaker 2: She thinks that the prisoners have the solution. And Kim
Speaker 2: is asking prisoners one question that she thinks can change everything.
Speaker 3: If someone could have said or done something that would
Speaker 3: have changed your path to prison, what would it have been.
Speaker 1: Today's Spotlight is on the IF project.
Speaker 2: Kim Bogouki has been a police officer in Seattle, Washington
Speaker 2: for over twenty years. Her job is to work with
Speaker 2: the community to decrease crime. In two thousand and eight,
Speaker 2: Kim started working with a child mentoring program called Beyond Bars.
Speaker 2: This program's goal to help young girls whose parents were
Speaker 2: in prison. The program helped by providing adult mentors for
Speaker 2: the girls. Mentors are adults who spend time with and
Speaker 2: support younger people. Mentors are also role models. They provide
Speaker 2: a positive example and influence for the children.
Speaker 1: Kim wanted the Beyond Bars mentoring program to be successful.
Speaker 1: She understood that these girls were at great risk. In fact,
Speaker 1: in the United States, children of prisoners have a seventy
Speaker 1: percent chance of becoming prisoners themselves. So Kim decided to
Speaker 1: learn more about how to support children of prisoners. However,
Speaker 1: Kim did not ask experts or read books about this subject. Instead,
Speaker 1: she decided to ask current prisoners the if question.
Speaker 2: So Kim visited the Washington Correction Center for Women in
Speaker 2: two thousand and eight. She asked the prisoners if someone
Speaker 2: could have said or done something that would have changed
Speaker 2: your path to prison, what would it have been. Kim
Speaker 2: thought the women would talk and discuss their answers together. However,
Speaker 2: the prisoners did not answer the question at all, so
Speaker 2: Kim finished talking to the prisoners and return and home.
Speaker 1: Months later, in May of two thousand and nine, Kim
Speaker 1: returned to the prison for another visit. When she arrived,
Speaker 1: she was surprised by a prisoner named Renata A. Bramson.
Speaker 1: Ranata gave her many pieces of paper. You see, Ranata
Speaker 1: had been thinking a lot about the IF question. She
Speaker 1: had also encouraged many other prisoners to think about how
Speaker 1: they would answer the question. On each piece of paper
Speaker 1: that Ranata gave Kim, a prisoner had written her answer
Speaker 1: to the IF question.
Speaker 2: Kim was shocked by the number of women that answered
Speaker 2: the question, and since that time, many hundreds of prisoners
Speaker 2: have written their answers to the question. Today, the IF
Speaker 2: Question has turned into the IF Project. The project has
Speaker 2: a website. On the website, people can read many of
Speaker 2: the prisoners If Question answers. The IF Project has also
Speaker 2: created a short film. The film shows eight female prisoners.
Speaker 2: The prisoners tell about their lives and read their answers
Speaker 2: to the IF question. The purpose of this film is
Speaker 2: to help educate adult mentors and at risk children. The
Speaker 2: Women's store show mentors how to better help children. The
Speaker 2: stories can also help the children learn from the mistakes
Speaker 2: of the prisoners.
Speaker 1: Philomena is one of the women in the film. She
Speaker 1: is a forty year old prisoner in the Washington Correction
Speaker 1: Center for Women. She has been in prison for fifteen
Speaker 1: years and will stay in prison for the rest of
Speaker 1: her life. Philimina grew up in a wealthy area. She
Speaker 1: attended a very good school. However, she always felt different
Speaker 1: from the other children in her school. Philimina was the
Speaker 1: only Asian American in her school. She was also an
Speaker 1: only child of older parents. She never had many friends
Speaker 1: or even a brother or sister to talk to. After
Speaker 1: many years of trying to make friends at school, Philimina
Speaker 1: became friends with local criminal gang members. Philomina felt accepted
Speaker 1: by these gang members, However, they involved her in illegal
Speaker 1: drugs and crime, and her involvement in crime led her
Speaker 1: to prison. Philamina knows that she made terrible mistakes and
Speaker 1: did very wrong things. She accepts her responsibility for her crime. However,
Speaker 1: she also recognizes that one thing could have helped her.
Speaker 1: In her answer to the if question, Philimina wrote.
Speaker 4: I needed a friend and someone to trust. I needed
Speaker 4: communication and someone to believe in me so that I
Speaker 4: could believe in myself. If I had this, I believe
Speaker 4: I would not be in prison for life.
Speaker 2: Philamina believes that just one good friend could have made
Speaker 2: a major difference in her life. She now recognizes that
Speaker 2: joining a gang was not the answer to her loneliness.
Speaker 4: She wrote, I do not know if this will help
Speaker 4: anyone ever, but if there is someone that reads this
Speaker 4: and feels like I did, I hope you find that
Speaker 4: person in your life before you end up like me.
Speaker 1: Every prisoner's answer to the if question is different. Each
Speaker 1: woman has a different life story. They each come from
Speaker 1: different places, different families, and different cultures. However, Kim Bogouki
Speaker 1: says there is a common issue in many of the
Speaker 1: prisoner's answers. Kim told the Real Change News organization.
Speaker 3: The common issue is the lack of a positive role
Speaker 3: model in their life, the lack of a person that
Speaker 3: would just listen.
Speaker 2: All countries deal with the issue of crime, and all
Speaker 2: countries want to decrease crime, But what can individual people
Speaker 2: do to help? Could asking the if question really prevent crime?
Speaker 1: Kim Boguki believes that knowing why people get in trouble
Speaker 1: is powerful mentors can use this information to make a
Speaker 1: positive difference in the lives of at risk children. In
Speaker 1: July of twenty ten, Kim was given a Community Service award.
Speaker 1: When she spoke with the organization that gave her the award,
Speaker 1: Kim said.
Speaker 3: I believe role models and mentors are one of the
Speaker 3: most important things in anyone's life, especially for children. In
Speaker 3: my work, I see a great difference in children who
Speaker 3: have a mentor or strong role model in their life.
Speaker 3: They have self respect and they desire to do good things.
Speaker 2: Who has been a positive role model in your life?
Speaker 2: What gives you hope when you have difficulties? For whom
Speaker 2: are you a positive role model? You can leave a
Speaker 2: comment on our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com.
Speaker 2: You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Blue Sky,
Speaker 2: and x. You can also get our programs delivered directly
Speaker 2: to your Android or Apple device through our free official
Speaker 2: Spotlight English app.
Speaker 1: The writer of this program and the producer were from
Speaker 1: the Spotlight team. The voices you heard were from the
Speaker 1: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
Speaker 1: for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen
Speaker 1: to this program again and read it on the internet
Speaker 1: at www dot Spotlight English dot com. This program is
Speaker 1: called the IF Project.
Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 2: Spotlight program. Goodbye,