Basketball camp brings children of incarcerated parents together to heal and hoop

Jariah Allen, 16, is a serious three-sport athlete.

But Saturday morning, she wasn’t competing against her peers, but rather connecting with them and sharing her own athletic prowess at the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree sports camp.

She was among the 250 kids of currently or formerly incarcerated parents who spent the day shooting hoops with a former professional basketball player at Hope Student Athletics Center in Garfield Park.

“It feels great to connect with kids in the same situation,” said Jariah, who lives in Greater Grand Crossing. “It’s nice to know you’re not alone.”

The kids — a subset of the 6,800 that Angel Tree serves in Chicago, and 11,000 statewide — were also given Nike basketball shoes and a basketball as they entered the gym. Almost immediately, dozens of balls were flying into hoops.

Jariah, who plays basketball, football and softball outside of Angel Tree events, was one of the older participants. Having been with the Angel Tree program since she was 5 years old, she said it was nice to see the cycle of healing continue with younger kids.

“It’s just very welcoming in a way,” Allen said of the one-day sports camps. “It’s a lot of kids going through the same thing, so it’s good to see younger kids coming in so they can see others are going through that too.”

Former University of San Diego standout Brandon Johnson — not to be confused with Chicago’s mayor — who played with the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Summer League before he was sentenced to six months in federal prison in a sports betting scandal in 2013, gave the children a motivational speech after joining other coaches and volunteers in running drills with the kids.

His own parents were incarcerated while he was growing up, so he is not only able to mentor the kids on the court, but also connect with them over the trauma they share. Johnson said a camp like this would have meant the world to a younger version of himself.

“If I had this in the third grade,” Johnson told a Sun-Times reporter, trailing off. “Nobody sat me down and told me, ‘Hey, your mom is about to be separated from you for the rest of your life.’ … It just gives them an outlet and someone to say, ‘I’m here.'"

Nikki Mattison, Angel Tree’s events director, also grew up with parents who were incarcerated.

Though they were released decades ago, and she has since grown close with them, she said the stigma attached to having parents in prison felt alienating, but could have been lifted if she had been around others in the same situation.

“There was shame associated with it,” Mattison said. “I felt like I was the only one ever who walked this earth with that. … If I was able to get into a room with other children whose parents were incarcerated, it would’ve been massively impactful.”

Johnson now mentors youth in juvenile detention centers through his nonprofit AWAKE as well as doing Angel Tree events, which he said have become a sort of “therapy” for him. He’s not sure if he would be doing the work had he not been incarcerated.

With the recurring events, he said he’s been able to cheer some of the same kids through the high points while encouraging them when they’re in a tough situation.

But it isn’t just for the kids — the event also serves the adults in their lives. While the children are playing, parents, grandparents and other caretakers are brought into breakout sessions and connected with resources if needed.

“God took the worst thing in my life and made it the greatest,” Johnson said. “It was a blessing. … I can feel at peace with it.”