Inmates are able to digitally edit their stories

The Dartmoor prison scheme, called Storybook Dads, builds on the long-established format of prisoners recording stories onto tape.

Inmates are able to digitally edit their stories, removing any mistakes and adding music and effects.

The stories are recorded with a personal message onto CD and then posted to the prisoners' families.

You feel very useless to your kids when you are in here Craig, Dartmoor Prison inmate

Sharon Berry, a further education teacher who runs the scheme, said: "At the end of the day these men can do very little for their children when they are in here. This is something tangible they can give to them to prove they care.

"Storytelling is such a natural parental thing. They are almost taking on a natural parental activity."

Craig, who is serving a four-year sentence at Dartmoor, has made two storybook CDs for his five-year-old son whom he has not seen for a year.

He said: "It's good for me as well because I feel like I am giving something back to my son

"You feel very useless to your kids when you are in here."

Storybook Dads is funded by charity and has proved so successful that Dartmoor is now providing editing for 17 other prisons, with more than 500 prisoners signed up to the scheme.