Luis Cabrera, an inmate at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, has lunch with his young daughter Janessa.

Little Janessa, 3, could not share Father's Day with her dad, Louis Cabrera, because he was not allowed any visitors on that Sunday. Cabrera has been an inmate at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Westchester County for two years, but he has tried to maintain a close relationship with his daughter.

Cabrera, originally a resident of Brooklyn of Dominican ancestry, graduated yesterday as a "better father" upon finishing a program created by the Osborne Association. The program, called Family Works, emphasizes the importance of incarcerated parents staying in contact with their children throughout their sentences.

In New York State, around 105,000 children have at least one parent in prison. A quarter of the 56,000 men and women incarcerated in the state are Hispanic.

"I became an inmate when my daughter was only 6 months old and the truth is that I don't know how to be a father. This program gave me information that can help me," said Cabrera, 22, holding his daughter in his arms. "I want her to know that I love her a lot. I made a mistake, but when she grows up she'll know that I was there for her."

Despite his difficult circumstances, his wife, Yokasta Cabrera, 28, wants her daughter to grow up knowing her father. Two or three times a month, she wakes up early at her home in the Bronx so that her daughter can spend a few hours with her father.

"They have special activities for families on the weekends. On those days they play games on the computer, they color, they read, they do normal father-daughter activities," said Yokasta Cabrera, who married Louis last week, behind bars.

The Osborne Association, which provides programs for inmates and their families, published a report last month titled: "A Call to Action: Safeguarding New York's Children of Incarcerated Parents." The report stresses the need for a government-run organization that focuses specifically on developing programs that benefit the well being of these children, and that increase the possibilities for contact between the children and their incarcerated parents.

"Studies have shown that with adequate programming, children with incarcerated parents will be more likely to achieve success as adults, families will have a higher chance of staying together, and inmates will have an easier time reintegrating into society," said Elizabeth Gaynes, executive director of the Osborne Association.

To strengthen the parent-child relationship, the report's suggestions include: putting less aggressive practices into effect when arresting a parent in front of a child; maintaining or increasing the number of family visits; simplifying the process of registration and security clearances when children visit prisons; and considering where children live when deciding where inmates should carry out their sentences.

Cabrera, while completing his almost 5-year sentence, is thinking of trying out one of the recommendations he learned in the program: writing to his daughter. "She's very young and she can't write back to me yet, but I want her to know, through my letters, that I am always thinking about her," he said.