Audio slide show

Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Timothy Corbin, an inmate at Botetourt Correctional Center, records a video Monday wishing his daughter a merry Christmas. Thirty-four inmates at the prison took part in a project that lets them send videos to their loved ones.

• See and hear inmates' holiday messages.

Timothy Corbin's greatest fear is that his mother will die before his parole date.

That's why his eyes repeatedly welled up after he made a video for her Monday.

"My mother is the best mother in the world," Corbin said. "I just hope she will be there when I get out."

Corbin was one of 34 inmates at Botetourt Correctional Center who participated in the Messages Project. The initiative allows prisoners up to 15 minutes to record video messages for their loved ones for the holidays.

"Making that tape really broke me down," Corbin said about the video he made for 88-year-old Beulah Corbin. He also made one for his daughter Felicia, who's 16.

By his release date of Jan. 29, 2009, Corbin will have spent nearly eight years in prison on a litany of charges including possession and distribution of drugs and eluding a police officer. He hasn't seen his mother since he was imprisoned for the second time more than three years ago.

The youngest of eight children, Corbin, 43, counts his mother as his greatest supporter.

Tattoos cover his arms, including a large one of two hands praying with a rosary and the words "Trust God" on his right forearm. He said he prays for his mother every morning and night.

Since he entered prison, he said, his mother has struggled with failing health: a bad heart, leg problems, broken bones. She has dropped nearly 40 pounds.

"She's grieving herself to death over me," Corbin said.

Project organizer Carolyn LeCroy often sees inmates break down.

"When they get in there, it changes their tough facade," she said. She described how inmates often cry, sing, pray or read to their loved ones.

This year, Virginia CURE, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce crime through rehabilitation, donated several books for inmates' children. Inmates could read from them and also send them as presents to their children.

LeCroy began the project for Mother's Day in 1999 at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Va. Now, she runs the project every Mother's Day, Father's Day and Christmas. This season, LeCroy will bring the project to six correctional centers across the state.

LeCroy also works with substance abuse programs with the Department of Corrections. She facilitates classes on healthy relationships and parenting in Virginia correctional centers. She also started Women in Transition, a nonprofit that helps inmates re-enter society.

LeCroy described how a person's imprisonment creates a ripple effect on families and friends. Children are especially affected and often struggle with feelings of desertion, trauma and shame. A child of an incarcerated parent is six to 10 times more likely to come in contact with the criminal justice system, she said.

LeCroy also knows the importance of relationships and family support for inmates from her own experience.

She remembered that while serving a 14-month sentence for marijuana possession in the mid-1990s, her two sons, who were 18 and 24, frequently visited her. She also saw how other inmates rarely received visits and how it affected them.

"I thought, 'When I get out of here, I'm going to do something about this,' " LeCroy said.

So, the film and television producer decided to use her professional training to give inmates a chance to communicate with loved ones after she was paroled in 1996.

"When inmates know we're coming, the energy level goes up," LeCroy said. She described how inmates and correctional officers alike enjoy the program because inmates become more cheerful and cooperative.

Danny Mitchell, 37, said that this Christmas will be a good one because it is, he hopes, his last one inside prison.

The Forestville, Md., native said he has spent the past four Christmases in prison for grand larceny, which he said was fueled by a severe cocaine habit.

He said the last time he saw his wife, Michelle, and two daughters -- Nikki, 14, and Lillian, 4 -- was in August, when they drove six and a half hours to see him. It cost them $800 for the gas, hotel and rental car.

For a $5 charge, the project gives him a way to be with his family during the holiday season.

"All right, hi everybody, I don't really know what to say," he said as he awkwardly started speaking to the camera.

He greeted each of his loved ones, repeatedly telling them, "Everybody just hang in there."

He told them he will be home soon. Then, he promised, "I ain't going to put you through this again."