The Impact Of Parental Incarceration

Messina and Grella (2007) found that greater exposure to childhood trauma contributes to a higher prevalence of mental illness within the population of incarcerated women. Not only does the lack of mental health treatment in correctional facilities affect incarcerated women, there are also long term consequences to community health and recidivism rates (Messina & Grella, 2007).

The United States’ ever-expanding prison and jail population has brought about many questions regarding the side-effects of mass incarceration, namely involving the effects on the children and families from which those incarcerated are removed. Regardless of the perspectives on the appropriate position of incarceration in the criminal justice system, imprisonment disrupts many positive and nurturing relationships between parents and their children. In fact, more than 1.7 million children have a parent who is incarcerated in a state or federal prison as of 2007 (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). These youths are at risk for developing behavior and school problems in addition to insecure attachment relationships. Parental incarceration, which may also be coupled with economic disadvantage and inconsistent living arrangements (Geller, Garfinkel, Cooper, & Mincy, 2009) can be an extremely difficult experience for children. It should come as no surprise that families with children suffer economic strain and instability when a parent is imprisoned, considering how each parent in today’s world typically needs to set aside time to earn an income to support their family, and most are unable to support their homes on one income. While it may be considered intrusive to some to intervene in the lives of children and families with incarcerated parents, research has suggested that there are positive societal benefits to intervening in the lives of incarcerated parents and their

Being the child of an incarcerated parent has substantial amounts of negative influences on youth today. As young children, many consider their parents as role models. Someone who they can confide in, someone who will preserve them, and someone who will guide them through life. For most youngsters having an incarcerated parent, means that their admirable example in life is absent. Not having a parent present in one's childhood leads to innumerable negative outcomes and impacts.

We know much more about incarcerated mothers than we know about incarcerated fathers. For example, over 70% of female inmates are mothers of dependent children under the age of eighteen. Almost 90% of incarcerated females are single parents and heads of households. According to some estimates, a quarter of a million children are separated from their parents each year by jail and prison (Glick & Neto, 1977; McGowan & Blumenthal, 1978; McPeek & Tse, 1988; U.S. Department of Justice, 1992). We do not have this kind of information about incarcerated fathers. The lack of statistics concerning fathers in prison may suggest that they are a forgotten group.

When someone is incarcerated it not only affects them but it takes a toll on their family. For example, men who are incarcerated and leave children behind. This affects the household and its finances. This is due to the fact that in some households men are the primary breadwinner. Children of women who are incarcerated sometimes end up homeless or in foster homes. This has a negative effect on the children because they lack the guidance and basic fundamentals a parent provides. Children who have a parent in jail are emotionally affected because there's no balance within their life, especially if their parent is always in an out of jail. Some kids start doing poorly in school, acting out and sometimes get involved in criminal

Many of these incarcerated men and women play various roles in their communities. They are parents, siblings, sons, and daughters and have family members who depend upon them for social and economic support. The incarceration of a parent has a particularly destabilizing role in a child’s life, oftentimes leaving the child in the care of a single parent, relative, or foster home (Levy-Pounds, 2006). Parental incarceration is considered an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), a designation for certain

Mass incarceration not only takes a toll on adults but on children as well. Along with the men, women are also being incarcerated, in the last ten years the rates of women being put behind bars has increased. According to Court Services and Offender Supervision

Since mandatory sentencing began in the mid-1980s, the United States prison system has seen a dramatic upswing in incarceration rates (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008, p. 1). “The United States’ increasingly punitive sentencing philosophy has resulted in an overreliance on incarceration, resulting in an incarcerated population that has soared from approximately 340,000 in the early 1970s to nearly 2.3 million today” (Raeder, 2012). “Parents held in the nation’s prisons—52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates—reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18” (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008, p. 1).

Children of incarcerated parents are a vulnerable group in August 2000 The Bureau of Justice Statistics analyzed a 1997 survey of inmates in State and Federal Corre ctional Facilities to examine parenting stats of prisoners. The survey showed that

The safety of the youth in his incarceration depends on factors that may go way back to family and may be less related to (although supplementary to) institutional conditions as the Keeping Kids Safe (KKS) (2009) research study of Judy Finlay showed.

The International Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies article titled, “Incarcerated Mothers and Fathers: How their Absences Disrupt Children’s High School Graduation” by Huynh-Hohnbaum, Bussell, and Lee (2015) details a great deal of research on how parental incarceration affects the children in regards to education. Lately, along with the entire justice system, parental incarceration has also been scrutinized for its effects on the children of incarcerated parents and how well they do in school as well as the other effects an incarcerated parent has on other aspects of a child’s life. Huynh-Hohnbaum, Bussell and Lee (2015) point out that having an incarcerated mother seems to have a greater effect on a child, but having either parent

In our society, a stigma is put on anything related to crime or incarceration. I don't a have direct relationship with incarceration and the pressure it puts on families, but I have witnessed the negative perspective and preconceptions that are set when talking about incarceration. As a society, we speak of the families or children that have been impacted by incarceration as if they are the ones that have committed the crime. I have been guilty of this prejudice as well. I've automatically assumed the that families impacted and children know the implication of their parent's or spouse's crime and should have the ability to cope with incarceration. However, I now realize that because of this stigma of incarceration, it often impacts those involved in their capacity to deal, to find resources to help with the financial stressors and their overall mental health. To better improve the over the health of the families, the state and the federal government have implemented resources and policies that can better help families understand their unique situation and the resources available to them. The research has to lead me to gain a perspective on incarceration and its impact, giving me a perspective and the resources to help families

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;

If charges are dropped or alternative sentencing is utilized, an individual may only be away from home for a few days or weeks. However, if an individual is convicted on severe charges, they could be imprisoned for many years. Although varying sentence lengths will have varying effects on families, all sentence lengths for parents will likely disrupt the family structure in ways that negatively affect the incarcerated parents, their children, and/or the parents or guardians caring for the children. Eddy and Poehlmann (2010) argue that, “Each parent-child separation represents moments of childhood that cannot be put on hold and missed life experiences that may be crucial for a child’s well-being and development” (p. xiii). The following literature review delves into research on the effects that parental incarceration has on the family unit and identifies factors which lessen or intensify the impact of such effects. Finally, I conclude the literature review by applying the presented research to the Montgomery County Collaboration Council’s Creating Healthy Bonds program, noting the extent to which areas of the programmatic structure do or do not address the effects of parental

The study by Lopers and Nichols was a longitudinal, study design using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Child and Youth survey (NLSY 2010), which included women and their children. According to Lopers and Nichols, “Out of the sample, 585 met criteria for the household incarceration status, to be compared to 2,753 individuals who did not experience household incarceration” (p. 5). Furthermore, it