BAKER COUNTY, Fla. -- Inside the fences and behind the barbed wire at Baker Correctional Institution are more than inmates, there are fathers.
"I don't think we have a crime problem in Jacksonville; we have a fathers problem. I think there are no fathers at home," says inmate Brian Lendin.
Inside BCI, there is a class aimed at helping incarcerated fathers learn better parenting skills for when they get out.
Ronnie Cage with Operation New Hope runs a 10-week program for a small group of inmates. It has been years since they have had to put their parenting into day-to-day use. Marquan Whitfield's youngest son was just 1-year-old when Whitfield was sentenced to 15 years for selling drugs.
Whitfield hopes his son won't repeat his mistakes. "He was so young when I left and I said man, I am going to have to watch him grow up from in here. But my wife, I thank God for her, she has allowed me to watch him grow up from behind this fence," he says.
"I have to break the cycle, so my children don't end up incarcerated here," he explains.
Though he didn't intend to sign up for the class, he believes it has been a godsend.
"Since that first day, I have been locked in to come every week," says Whitfield.
The lessons each week help teach the men about how to reconnect and communicate with their children.
"You have to get their input on things, you have to be a good listener when dealing with your children," Whitfield says of what he's learned.
Being a good listener is something Ronnie Cage feels strongly about too. While he leads the class, it is almost more of a discussion -- inviting the men to give their thoughts on the topics like discipline, responsibility and being a leader.
Next to Marquan sits Lendin, who has a 7-year-old daughter named Sam.
"I had been in and out of trouble my whole life and it never bothered me. When in Rome, do as the Romans... but her, Sam, and God everything she has had to deal with," an emotional Lendin says as tears well in his eyes.
His wife died in a car crash in 2011. Now his sister is raising his daughter.
"And that is my fault. I am responsible for her not my sister and my sister is doing a great job with her, but it is not her responsibility," says Lendin.
Cage says he hopes this class will help the men realize the important role a father plays in a child's life. He says after talking to the men, he can see their lessons are taking root.
"I'm there for them and I am going to be there for them, until God brings me home. That's what I've learned," says Lendin.
"They have to do better because not only do they know better, but because they have other people relying on them. Their children need them," says Cage.
Warden James Freeman, a father himself, says when these men leave Baker Correctional Institution, he has a simple message for them. "I tell them don't call me in two or three months, call me in two or three years and tell me, 'I'm out here still doing good.' That is when we see the value in our programs," he says.
Because sometimes the greatest motivator is love for your child.
"There is a cycle in generations and if you look at my family, that cycle continues unless somebody breaks it," says Lendin. "I am going to break it."
