Parental Incarceration Paper

Both Mariner and Bernstein’s articles reflect on the difficulties male inmates face within the U.S. prison system. While Nell Bernstein’s “Relocation Blues” discusses the challenges fathers face in keeping in touch with their children while in jail, Joanne Mariner’s “Deliberate Indifference” highlights the horrors of prison-rape conducted by male inmates. Despite whether one is a victim or a potential threat, or a good father or a bad

The nation’s jail population is at an all-time high and this has raised a series of questions about the collateral effects it will have on children, families, and the community. The number of parents being incarcerated has increased dramatically and the privatization of this institution indicates that the number of children growing up without their parents due to incarceration will continue to rise. As the number increases, generalist practitioners must prepare themselves to deal with this emerging trend. So as new trends emerge, generalist practitioners

The growth of incarceration in the United States Prison grew over the last four decades. The trend is historically unprecedented and is unique to the world. The majority of those incarcerated come from disadvantaged populations and comprises of main minorities below the age of forty. The communities have the number of people engaging in crime, drug abuse, alcohol addiction, physical and mental illness and lack of employment. The African Americans and Hispanics form the largest prison population compared to the non-Hispanic whites. The high incarceration has the huge impact on the American society since its inception in the 1960s and 1970s. The changed political environment led to policy changes. All levels of the government altered

The United States has the highest imprisonment rate of any country in the world. The rate of imprisonment of people in the United States has been increasing at a rapid pace since the 1980’s and 90’s. It should come as no surprise then that it is not only the number of single people incarcerated that has grown, but the number of parents incarcerated as well. For instance, the number of children with an incarcerated parent in a state or federal jail in 1986 was 600,000. By 2007 that number had more than doubled to a staggering 1.7 million children with a parent in a state or federal prison. It is important to note that these statistics do not even include the number of children with a parent in a local or county jail. (p343)

While being a father in prison, it is still necessary to establish a parental connection with their son or daughter. It has been said that it is most beneficial to have both parents in the child’s life. They must create their own role even though they are behind bars. A study showed that most incarcerated fathers have feelings of “helplessness and difficulties in being a ‘good father (Rosenburg 2009).” There are many reasons why the fathers may feel this way. A lot of mothers refuse to bring the children to a prison or jail, but a lot of mothers may have a problem with finances, transportation, or time. There are strict rules and codes to follow when visiting a prisoner, so it would be difficult for a child to act normally with their father. Waiting times can be long, children will be frisked, and chances are it will be hot, dirty, and crowded. The caregiver may say that is emotionally scarring and the visiting can have a bad influence on the child. When a father is sent away, he is not sent to a prison in accordance with the family’s home. For those that are close, they are lucky, but if a person is in the state’s Department of Corrections, they can be sent anywhere in the state. When these fathers are taken away, the children receive little or no support on how to deal with

The second most predominant theme reported within the literature was the multidimensional impact incarceration can have on partners and other family members. Incarceration influences an array of family members including parents, siblings, partners and children (Turney, Schnittker, Wildman, 2012). Interestingly, Codd (2007) identifies that many of the themes emerging within current research are consistent with the original findings of Morris (1965). These include lack of information, lack of support, financial difficulties and fear of stigmatisation (Lowenstein, 1986, Anderson, 1966; Blackwell, 1959; Hansen & Hill, 1966; Hill, 1949; Martin & Webster, 1971; Morris, 1965, 1967, Braman, 2004;

Mass incarceration is a major issue in the United States. There are multiple theories as to why this has occurred. According to Martensen, the United States is five percent of the world’s population and we have 25% of the world’s inmates (Martensen, 2012). Statistics show since the 1970s the prison population has increased 300% from 1980 to 2000 and 500% in the last few decades (Patten, D. d., 2016). This appears to be due to the war on drugs during this time period. What is interesting is that even when the crime rate decreased the prison population continually increased.

Incarceration, a topic of controversy, has received much attention in both academic and political arenas. Policy changes in recent years have influenced incarceration rates and, in turn, affected families and children in the U.S. (Hagan & Coleman, 2001; Visher & Travis, 2003; “Pew Charitable Trusts”, 2010; Arditti, Lamburt-Shute, & Joest, 2003). Policies, such as “tough on crime” and “war on drugs”, have contributed to not only a steady rise in incarceration rates and over crowding of correctional facilities, but also endorsed the disproportionate number of detainees from underrepresented ethnic populations (Hagan & Coleman, 2001; “Pew Charitable Trusts”, 2010). Hence, the vast majority of children who are affected by having an incarcerated parent are of underrepresented ethnic groups (“Bureau of Justice”, 2010).

The first factor is that the sheer number of individuals incarcerated nationwide in the United States is “717 per 100,000” (Schmalleger, & Smykla, 2015, p. 6). Moreover, the issues associated with these numbers are a substantial increase of female inmates, an apparent racial bias, inmate age upsurge, and the reasons for incarceration (Schmalleger, & Smykla, 2015). The number of prisoners is important because the resources used for incarceration takes away from other necessary societal programs, which detracts from public welfare. Meanwhile, the rise in female inmates means more broken families,

Murray, J. and Murray, L. (2010). Parental incarceration, attachment and child psychopathology. Attachment & Human Development, 12(4), pp. 289-309.

It is shocking to see the increase of women that have been imprisoned. Looking at the table titled “number of female prisoners under the jurisdiction of State or Federal correction. In 2003 the percentage was 6.6%this is when the increase of women in Federal and State prison. In 2006 to 2008 the rate was at all-time high of 6.9%. (120) However by 2009 the rate decreased to 6.8%. According to the author Mexican and African American women experience a high incarceration. The “get tough” policies were to dissolve the illegal activities of drug dealers and big kingpins. This policy didn’t work 35.9% of women are serving time for drugs passion offenses in the prison system many women of color. I believe some of the women that are incarcerated for passion is because to a boyfriend manipulate the girl into doing illegal activity , also females enjoy material things and coming from a low income area females believe they have something to prove to others in their low income neighbor. Many of these females are from dysfunctional homes where there is a lot of physical abuse, drug abuse, sexual abuse and mental abuse. The author states there have been new technologies for determine drug use, such as a urine analysis, which can determine if the female parolee is in violation of her parole. According to the author this is the reason women are returning to prison for parole violation. The author also states one out of five women returned to prison on parole violation. According to the

Sykes (1958) described the pains of imprisonment for men as the deprivations of liberty, goods and services, heterosexual relationships, autonomy, and security. All these deprivations apply equally to female prisoners, and some may be more severe for women. Separation from one's family is an obvious example of this. Women may also suffer from receiving fewer leisure, work and educational opportunities and closer surveillance than men. Many have noted the corrections experience is significantly different for women than for men, because men and women are treated differently by the courts and corrections systems (Chesney-Lind & Pollock, 1995). It has been suggested that this differential treatment has to do with the nature of crimes committed by women and the role of many women as mothers. Unfortunately, our understanding of the role that sex and gender play in shaping prisoner culture and experience has been constrained by a lack of recent research. Although female offenders became the subjects of extensive research in the 1960s, studies examining their adjustment to imprisonment today have received minimal attention. Research continues to focus primarily on the effects of incarceration on male prisoners, suggesting that the female inmate remains a forgotten offender (MacKenzie, Robinson & Campbell, 1989; 1995). Those studies that have focused on the female inmate, however, have shown that the impact of imprisonment is more severe on women than on men, especially if they have family responsibilities (Durham 1994). Despite the growing number of long-term offenders in the United States, studies continue to focus primarily on the male long-term offender, with little emphasis being placed on females. Since few

Families often become disrupted when a family member enters the system. For those men who do get married, incarceration can disrupt marriages and often result in divorce. Incarceration is extremely resource intensive for spouses on the outside who must travel long distances for visits, pay hefty fees for telephone calls, and support and care for the family alone. When sentences are very long, many couples choose to divorce, saving not only the resources, but allowing the non-incarcerated partner to move on and enter other relationships. All of these disruptions to marriage also, we note, disrupt parenting relationships as well. So, the impact of incarceration on children is significant. Unlike spouses who can choose to divorce, incarcerated

The state of women in the United States criminal justice system, an apparently fair organization of integrity and justice, is a perfect example of a seemingly equal situation, which turns out to be anything but. While the policies imposed in the criminal justice system have an effect on all Americans, they affect men and women in extremely dissimilar manners. By looking at the United States' history of females in the criminal justice system, the social manipulation of these females and the everlasting affects that incarceration have on all women, both in and out of prison, this essay will explore the use of the criminal justice system as simply another form of control from which there

Have you ever thought about how it feels to be in prison and have family on the outside who needs you? This is the reality that some people have to face. The Bureau of Justice and Statistics, has reported an estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation’s prisons at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, or children under age 18. As stated in the article between 1991 and midyear 2007, “parents held in state and federal prisons increased by 79% (357,300 parents). Children of incarcerated parents increased by 80% (761,000 children).” The most shocking thing of it all is that most kids will turn 18 before their missing parent will emerge from prison.