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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:47 am
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Results for families of inmates
129 results foundAuthor: Withers, Lloyd Title: Incarcerated Fathers: A Descriptive Analysis Summary: This study provides an analysis of the parenting status of a sample of federally incarcerated men in Canada and examines the pre-incarceration lifestyle of the fathers and extent of their children following incarceration. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, Research Branch, 2007 Source: Canadian Families and Corrections Network; Correctional Service of Canada Year: 2007 Country: Canada URL: Shelf Number: 113451 Keywords: Families of InmatesPrisoners |
Author: Schwartz-Soicher, Ofira Title: The Effect of Paternal Incarceration on Material Hardship Summary: This study utilizes Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data to examine whether an incarceration of a father increases the extent to which their partners and children experience material hardship. Using various modeling strategies (negative binomial regressions, propensity scores, lagged dependent variable and individual fixed-effects models) the authors find that the incarceration of a father indeed does increase hardship for families. Further findings indicate that father's incarceration contributes to hardship not only by reducing income, but also by seriously disrupting household relationships and routines. Details: New York: Columbia University, 2009. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed April 25, 2018 at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259709694_The_Effect_of_Paternal_Incarceration_on_Material_Hardship Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259709694_The_Effect_of_Paternal_Incarceration_on_Material_Hardship Shelf Number: 117086 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesIncarceration |
Author: Perry, Virginia Title: Evaluation of the Mothering at a Distance Program Summary: The Mothering at a Distance (MAAD) Program is a 10-session parenting program, which has been conducted at a number of New South Wales Department of Corrective Services correctional centers for female inmates. The aims of this study is to assess the development, implementation, effectiveness, and sustainability of the MAAD program. Details: Sydney: New South Wales, Department of Corrective Services, 2009. 100p. Source: http://www.correctiveservices.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Evaluation-of-the-Mothering-at-a-Distance_Program.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: http://www.correctiveservices.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Evaluation-of-the-Mothering-at-a-Distance_Program.pdf Shelf Number: 116651 Keywords: Children of PrisonersCorrectional ProgramsFamilies of InmatesFemale OffendersMothering |
Author: Tomkin, Jean Title: Orphans of Justice: In Search of the Best Interests of the Child When a Parent is Imprisoned: A Legal Analysis Summary: In response to the increasing body of research examining the impact of parental imprisonment on children, this report undertakes to address how this is affecting the court decisions. Of concern is how judges are utilizing developing understandings of a child's best interests to interpret the international standard guaranteeing the child's rights. This paper examines case law and practice around the world in regards to these issues. Details: Geneva: Quaker United Nations Office, 2009 Source: Year: 2009 Country: Switzerland URL: Shelf Number: 116263 Keywords: Criminal Justice PolicyFamilies of InmatesHuman RightsJuveniles |
Author: Rosenberg, Jennifer Title: Children Need Dads Too: Children with Fathers in Prison Summary: This paper attemtps to bring together available information on paternal imprisonment in order to identify the issues, raise awareness, promote further research and encourage changes in policy and practice. The aim is to ensure that children are a central concern in all cases of parental imprisonment and the gender specific concerns are fully understood in order to enable effective policy creation and the promotion and protection of the best interests of the child. Details: Geneva, Switzerland: Quaker United Nations Office, 2009 Source: Human Rights & Refugees Publications Year: 2009 Country: Switzerland URL: Shelf Number: 115798 Keywords: Families of InmatesJuveniles |
Author: Great Britain. Ministry of Justice Title: Reducing Reoffending: Supporting Families, Creating Better Futures. A Framework for Improving the Local Delivery of Support for Families of Offenders Summary: This framework sets out key tasks for criminal justice agencies and local services to support the children and families of offenders at each stage of the criminal justice system and beyond. Details: London: Home Office, 2009. 45p. Source: Great Britain. Department for Children, Schools and Families Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 117794 Keywords: Families of InmatesSocial Services |
Author: Glover, Jane Title: Every Night You Cry: The Realities of Having A Parent in Prison Summary: This research brief reports on the impact of parental imprisonment for the children and partners of 15 male prisoners in Bristol, England. Barnardo's identified 15 women whose children have a father in prison, and who were willing to tell their story. Eleven of their children also agreed to speak to the interviewers. This report presents the outcomes of these interviews. Details: Ilford, UK: Barnardo's, 2009. 14p. Source: Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 118378 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Barefoot Research and Evaluation Title: Keeping Prisoners and Their Families Together Summary: This report is a follow-on from research that was completed in 2005 that looked at what prisons in the North East were doing to support relationships between parents in prison and their families. This research is intended to: contribute to the work in the region’s prisons that supports the children and families of prisoners; and inform the wider Reducing Re-offending Strategy and Delivery Plan. This research has a number of objectives. It seeks the reaction to the original research findings from the prisons that were involved and invites detailed feedback. It also provides these prisons with the opportunity to indicate what developments there have been in their establishments in relation to work with prisoners and their families; It invites national agencies and academics to comment on the findings in relation to their own experiences, which serves as a national peer review; It gathers the reactions of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations who are part of the FSSP and determines their needs; It reviews current national and regional policy and practice; and It looks at the FSSP in relation to the other Pathways in the context of the RRAP. Details: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Northern Rock Foundation, 2007. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 2, 2010 at: http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk/downloads/NRF%20PrisonersFamilies%20Report.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk/downloads/NRF%20PrisonersFamilies%20Report.pdf Shelf Number: 120351 Keywords: Children of InmatesFamilies of InmatesPrisoners' Families (U.K.) |
Author: Kelleher Associates Title: Voices of Families Affected by Imprisonment Summary: Imprisonment of a family member has a significant impact on those left outside. Even though they have not committed a crime, family members can feel stigmatised and shamed and carry huge emotional and health costs. Families deserve support in their own right, a support which is tailored to their own needs. Supporting families is also crime prevention. Having a parent involved in crime is a strong risk factor for the child becoming involved in crime. Supporting children and teenagers when a parent goes into prison can help to interrupt the cycle of inter-generational criminal activity. It has also been found that people in prison who maintain good family contact are twice as likely to have employment and housing on leaving prison and are six times less likely to re-offend. The Bedford Row Family Project commissioned Kelleher Associates to undertake research on the needs of families who attend the project. The research has three main aims: • To give expression to the experiences of families of having a family member in prison. • To assist the Bedford Row Family project to make informed decisions about its future work. • To undertake a critical examination of the manner in which statutory policies, provision and practices impact upon these families and their relationships. As part of the research, interviews were held with 52 family members, including eleven ex-prisoners. Personnel from key agencies in the Limerick region, including staff at Limerick Prison, were interviewed. Discussions were also held with staff from the Bedford Row Family Project. A review of key government policy documents and selected literature was carried out. The conclusions and issues arising from the study are presented fully in Chapter Five report. Details: Limerick, Ireland: Bedford Row Family Project, 2007. 99p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 15, 2011 at: http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/11832/1/Bedford_Row_Family_Project_2007.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Ireland URL: http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/11832/1/Bedford_Row_Family_Project_2007.pdf Shelf Number: 121014 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Ireland)Families of Inmates |
Author: Boswell, Gwyneth Title: Time Apart: A Seven-Year Project to Help Children and Families Affected by Imprisonment. Evaluation of the Work of the Eastern Region Families Partnership 2002-2009 Summary: The Eastern Region Families Partnership (ERFP) was established in 2001 to support and develop services to prisoners' children and families and to prisoner resettlement in the Eastern region. The partnership was between a grant-making body, an voluntary agency and HM Prison service. This research aimed to assess the effectiveness of the ERFP and its programme of work during its seven-year life and to make recommendations for their future development. A wide range of data was analysed during the study including semi-structured interviews and questionnaires of 212 people comprising of staff, volunteers, Board members, regional stakeholders, and service users including prisoners, partners/child carers and children. the key evaluation outcomes of the research are identified under the headings of: programme, the degree of effectiveness with which the projects have been implemented; the process, the extent to which the key implementers consider the policy and organisational framework helps their daily operations; and product, the overall extent to which Partnerships stated objectives have been met. The results of the evaluation are discussed in terms of the programme, the process and product. In its conclusion the evaluation commends the model and finds the services effective. Details: Ipswich: Ormiston Children and Families Trust, 2009. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Executive Summary Accessed April 15, 2011 at: http://www.youngsouthampton.org/images/Time_Apart_Executive_Summary_tcm21-249124.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.youngsouthampton.org/images/Time_Apart_Executive_Summary_tcm21-249124.pdf Shelf Number: 121358 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFamilies of Prisoners (U.K.) |
Author: Martynowicz, Agnieszka Title: Children of Imprisoned Parents Summary: This report is a summary of a study funded by the EU and the Egmont Foundation from October 2009-May 2011 led by the Danish Institute of Human Rights in collaboration with the University of Ulster, and EUROCHIPS, Bambinisenzasbarre and Polish partner organisations. Its focus was to examine the rights of children of imprisoned parents and to consider the following questions: Are children’s rights considered and respected when their parents are imprisoned? Do the police, prison services, courts take note of the situation of children at each stage of the criminal justice process? This report is based on the findings of research conducted in Denmark, Italy, Poland and Northern Ireland in the course of the project. It looks at the various stages of the criminal justice process – from arrest to release – through the eyes of the children affected, their parents, police officers, prison officers and social workers. It concludes that while some positive initiatives are in place in individual prisons, those are not mainstreamed throughout penal institutions, police services and beyond. Indeed, in most cases, they remain marginal in the context of the overall criminal justice system. Change in this area is therefore urgently needed so the rights of children with imprisoned parents are fully respected across Europe. Details: Copenhagen, Denmark: Danish Institute for Human Rights, 2011. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 29, 2011 at: http://www.humanrights.dk/files/pdf/IFM%20Chilldren%20lav.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Europe URL: http://www.humanrights.dk/files/pdf/IFM%20Chilldren%20lav.pdf Shelf Number: 121887 Keywords: Children of Inmates (Europe)Families of Inmates |
Author: Robertson, Oliver Title: Children Imprisoned by Circumstance Summary: Around the world children who have committed no crime live in prison. There with mothers accused or convicted of an offence, these children are too often ignored by prison systems and officials, with their needs and best interests unmet. The decision whether to allow a child to live in prison with her/his mother involves two unpalatable options: do you separate a child from her/his mother or have the child live in prison? But the issue is much broader than a single decision and the impact on the child is felt before, during and after the period of imprisonment. At all stages of the criminal justice process, from the point of arrest to the time of release and reintegration into the community, a woman may have children living with her. At all of these stages the needs and best interests of the children should be considered. The issue of children living in prison has many features, but in this paper the focus is primarily on the times before and after imprisonment: the situations in which children enter prison and the effect it has on them after they leave. Different children are affected differently. As well as living with a mother serving a custodial sentence, children may also stay with her while she is in police custody during the investigation or during a period of pre-trial detention. Some children move into prison from a home in the community, others are born during the mother’s imprisonment. When they leave, children either do so with their mother or before her. Some have spent time in the community before or during their time in prison; others have lived in prison their entire lives. Some children are detained with their mother prior to her trial, either when she is arrested and questioned or during a period of pre-trial detention. Conditions in pre-trial detention centres and police stations may be even more inappropriate than those in prison and they are less likely to include specialist child-friendly facilities. This is particularly significant in jurisdictions where people are held in pre-trial detention for months or even years and underlines the importance of ensuring that pre-trial detention is used only as a last resort. Caring responsibilities may mean that a suspect is less likely to abscond and should be taken into account when deciding whether pre-trial detention is needed. When a case comes to trial and a woman is found guilty, some courts take into account the impact of a sentence on any children. Women with children may be given a fixed sentence (in Kyrgyzstan first-time women offenders with children under 14 generally have their sentences suspended) or the sentence may vary depending on the best interests of the child (this is now required in South Africa, following a Constitutional Court judgement in 2007). However, if a mother is imprisoned, children may live in prison with her only in certain circumstances. If they are too old or have reached certain developmental stages (for example, have stopped breastfeeding) or if the prison does not have appropriate facilities to house them, children may be denied entry. In some countries children born during a mother’s imprisonment are allowed to stay with her, but children born before the imprisonment are not. This issue, of the restrictions on entry, is one where there is little consensus among States: some countries ban children of any age from living in prison; in others children can stay until they are four, five or six years old or even older. It is also an area with no acknowledged best practice – the conditions in which children live, the opportunities they have for development and the contact they have with the outside world all vary widely – and there has been very little long-term or comparative research which assesses the effects that different policies have on children’s future prospects. The entry of children into prison should be recorded in the same way as happens to prisoners, to prevent their becoming ‘lost’ or forgotten by the authorities. While they remain in prison, children, who have committed no crime, should not be subject to the same restrictions as prisoners. Their physical, emotional, social and/or intellectual development should not be damaged by living in prison. Support for children may include provision of nurseries or schools, visits outside the prison and/or contact with relatives living in the community. Acclimatising them to the world outside is important not only to promote their development, but also to prepare them for living in the community once they leave prison. There are reports of children being scared of aeroplanes, cars, trees or men when they are released because they have not encountered them before. When children do leave prison, they may do so with or without their mother. There is often a preference for mothers and children to leave together so as to avoid separating then reuniting them months or possibly weeks later. For this reason, rules about when children must leave prison frequently include some flexibility to allow them to stay longer than the official maximum if the mother herself is shortly to be released. When children leave before their mothers, they will be looked after by alternative carers. These are often other family members, but may include other members of the community or foster carers or being placed in institutional care. Meetings between the children, the mother and/or the new carers sometimes take place before and after the children’s release from prison to help them adjust to their new living situation. Many children, particularly those with no experience of life outside prison, may have difficulty integrating into the community. Many women in prison were poor to begin with and come out of prison poorer than they went in. They may have difficulty finding stable work and accommodation, which will obviously impact on any children with her. Ongoing post-release support should be provided to both mother and child, both for humanitarian reasons and to prevent future criminal behaviour on the part of either the mother or (in the future) the children. Moreso than many other issues, this is one where prevention really is better than cure. Due to the problems that occur by having children living in prison, officials should consider alternatives at every stage of the criminal justice process. Crime prevention strategies to support women in avoiding criminal behaviour altogether, diverting women away from formal judicial procedures by using measures such as restorative justice processes, avoiding pre-trial detention and imposing non-custodial sentences on woman with caring responsibilities: all of these should utilised to avoid the negative effects of parental imprisonment on children. Whether they live in prison or remain outside, the children of prisoners have committed no crime and should suffer for none. It is the responsibility of all involved in the criminal justice process to ensure that this is so. Details: Geneva: Quaker United Nations Office, 2008. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 5, 2011 at: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/200804childrenImprisonedByCircumstance-English.pdf Year: 2008 Country: International URL: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/200804childrenImprisonedByCircumstance-English.pdf Shelf Number: 110516 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Arizona. Criminal Justice Commission, Statistical Analysis Center Title: Children of Incarcerated Parents: Measuring the Scope of the Problem Summary: Current trends in incarceration practices have inevitably affected a large number of children. A recent report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2008) estimates that slightly less than two million children have a parent incarcerated in the state or federal prison system, which accounts for approximately two percent of the total minor population in the United States. With support from the Arizona Governor’s Office on Children, Youth, and Families, researchers from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission and Arizona State University conducted a statewide study on children of incarcerated parents with two primary goals: 1. To arrive at a reliable estimate of the number of children of parents currently incarcerated in the Arizona Department of Corrections. 2. To develop and implement a clearly defined strategy through which data on the number of children with incarcerated parents in Arizona is obtained and reported on an annual basis. Data collection efforts entailed an extensive review of records from the Arizona Department of Corrections. This included electronic data from the institutional data management system as well as prisoner case file contents. Research has found that confined subjects are far less likely to disclose personal information to staff for fear that information will be used against them or negatively affect others (e.g., family members, friends). Accordingly, independent, non-justice system interviewers also conducted face-to-face interviews with incarcerated mothers and fathers. Phase one of the project involved a review of institutional records from a random sample of men (N=600) and women (N=600) prisoners who were in custody during July 2009. Since the Arizona Department of Corrections collects the number of overall dependents of prisoners, we reviewed these data to identify the percentage of prisoners who had dependents and the average number of overall dependents. Researchers then reviewed case files for a subsample of men (N=300) and women (N=300) prisoners who according to institutional data management records were classified as having at least one dependent. This exercise was extremely important as it revealed the extent to which the institutional record measure of overall dependents represented a proxy for minor children. Phase two of the study entailed original data collection by Arizona State University researchers who have experience collecting sensitive information from confined populations. Specifically, researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with incarcerated fathers (N=300) and mothers (N=300) in custody at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Phoenix Alhambra Reception and Treatment Center and the Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville, San Pedro, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Santa Maria and Piestewa Units. Conducting interviews during the intake and reception process allowed for sampling of various types of male prisoners and maximized the use of limited resources by eliminating the need to travel to all ADC facilities. Since nearly threefourths of female inmates in ADC are housed in minimum security units, interviews with women prisoners were conducted in three minimum security units and in one unit that housed a combination of both minimum and medium security prisoners in an effort to obtain a representative sample of the female prisoner population. Details: Phoenix, AZ: Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, 2011. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed August 1, 2011 at: http://acjc.state.az.us/ACJC.Web/Pubs/Home/COIP_Final.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://acjc.state.az.us/ACJC.Web/Pubs/Home/COIP_Final.pdf Shelf Number: 122236 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Arizona)Families of Inmates |
Author: Applied Behavioral Health Policy Title: An Epidemiological Study of the Prevalence and Needs Of Children of Incarcerated Parents within the State of Arizona Summary: In March 2004, Governor Janet Napolitano’s Office for Children, Youth, and Families, Division for Substance Abuse Policy commissioned Applied Behavioral Health Policy of the University of Arizona, to conduct an epidemiological study of the inmates in the custody of the Arizona Department of Corrections. Primary questions of interest to the Governor’s Office included: How many inmates have children of minor age? What are the characteristics of these inmates including demographic features, anticipated release date, post release status and needs? What are the ages, current living situation and location, educational attainment, adjustment and social service needs of these children? This reports summarizes the methodological approach and key findings of this study. Voluntary written self-report survey questionnaires were administered to 4,403 inmates housed at three prison facilities operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections. By design, efforts were made to survey all women within custody and a statistically representative sample of male inmates. Overall, a 70% response rate, representing 3,091 inmates, was achieved with a significantly higher rate of response among the women inmates. Initial analyses revealed that the sample of inmates completing the survey under-represented Hispanics and over-represented Caucasians for both males and females while all other racial/ethnic categories were equitably represented, as compared to the general ADC population. As a result, the male response sample was parsed to provide a final sample that approximated the racial/ethnic make-up of the general ADC population. Of this adjusted sample, 1,968 (76%) identified themselves to be parents of minor children. This group of inmates served as the basis of data presented in this report. Details: Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona, 2005. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 3, 2011 at: http://www.cabhp.asu.edu/projects/research/pdf/epidemiological%20study%20of%20the%20prevalence%20and%20needs%20of%20children%20of%20incarcerated%20parents.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://www.cabhp.asu.edu/projects/research/pdf/epidemiological%20study%20of%20the%20prevalence%20and%20needs%20of%20children%20of%20incarcerated%20parents.pdf Shelf Number: 122292 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Arizona)Families of Inmates |
Author: Krupat, Tanya Title: A Call to Action: A report of the New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents The Osborne Association Safeguarding New York’s Children of Incarcerated Parents Summary: New York is home to an estimated 105,000 children of incarcerated parents; hundreds of thousands more have experienced their parent’s criminal justice involvement at some point in their lives. Yet some have called this an “orphan issue” as it belongs to no single agency or oversight body and there remains a great deal we do not know about the scope and impact of a parent’s incarceration on children. In the summer of 2010, a public/private coalition began a strategic planning process to address the practice and policy concerns facing New York’s children and families impacted by incarceration. This effort was built on the momentum of two existing and active interdisciplinary groups – the Osborne Association’s New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents (NY Initiative) and the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Subcommittee on Children of Incarcerated Parents. The six-month planning effort included a series of five topical discussion meetings drawing on the expertise of people in the field (in both public and nonprofit agencies), and culminated in a one-day summit on November 15, 2010. The goal of the Summit, whose heading was “A Call to Action,” was to draw attention to the needs of children whose parents are in the criminal justice system and to develop recommendations for how the systems that touch their lives can minimize trauma and harm, and support their resiliency and success. The Summit was co-sponsored by the Diane Abbey Center for Children and Families at New York Law School and brought together more than 240 people representing 100 different agencies and organizations, as well as individuals directly affected by parental incarceration. The Summit opened with a panel of young people who have experienced parental incarceration, followed by a panel of commissioners of four state and local agencies. Underscoring the importance of including young people in discussions of policies and practices that affect them, the youth and commissioners then sat on the stage together to answer questions from the audience. This report builds on the planning process leading up to the Summit, and the actual Summit itself. As the Summit title stated, the purpose of this report is action. It is intended to be a tool that assists policymakers, practitioners, government agency staff, advocates, and families to enact positive changes to benefit the lives of New York’s children. Details: New York: New York Inititive for Children of Incarcerated Parents, The Osborne Association, 2011. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 4, 2011 at: http://www.osborneny.org/NYCIP/ACalltoActionNYCIP.Osborne2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.osborneny.org/NYCIP/ACalltoActionNYCIP.Osborne2011.pdf Shelf Number: 122308 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (New York)Families of Inmates |
Author: Phillips, Susan D. Title: Making “The Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents” a Reality: Evaluation Report Summary: When we send someone to prison, we tend to think of it as the endpoint in a process: someone has violated the law, been caught, tried, and sentenced to confinement away from others. However, for millions of children whose parents are sent to jail or prison, the process does not stop there. While their parents are in prison, children worry about who will care for them, wonder if they are somehow to blame for their parents getting into trouble, and struggle to keep their parents’ whereabouts hidden from others to avoid being teased or rejected. Being separated from a parent – even a parent who has broken the law – leaves a hole in a child’s life. When children are separated from their parents for other reasons such as divorce, death, or military service, we offer them comfort and support, and help them come to terms with what has happened. In contrast, when we send parents to prison, we are often oblivious to the pain, fears, and anxieties their children experience. After years of working with, talking to, and studying children whose parents had been to prison, the San Francisco Partnership for Incarcerated Parents developed The Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents. These are not rights in the legal sense; they are not mandated by law. Instead, they are a set of goals which, if achieved, would help to assure that children’s fundamental needs for safety, security, and belonging are met. This is no more than we offer any other children who face crises because something out of the ordinary has happened to their parents. Before children can benefit from The Bill of Rights, however, the rights have to be translated into changes in the way individuals and systems treat children whose parents are incarcerated. For example, the goal of children being able to see, touch, and talk with their parents while their parents are incarcerated might be achieved by allowing children to visit with their incarcerated parents in special settings within correctional facilities where parents and children can talk and interact freely. Making this a reality might require getting approval from corrections administrators, obtaining the cooperation of security staff, and securing resources to revamp a space in the facility. There are a number of groups around the country that are working to translate the broadly defined goals outlined in The Bill of Rights into specific changes in the way systems and individuals treat children of incarcerated parents. To further these efforts, The Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation funded a Senior Fellow to provide technical assistance for 14 months. Her objectives were to: (1) share knowledge based on her own experience providing services and advocating for children of incarcerated parents and her training in developmental psychology; (2) facilitate contact with the authors of The Bill of Rights and trainers and practitioners from The Family and Corrections Network; and (3) serve as a “cross pollinator”, carrying ideas and strategies between groups. This report presents an evaluation of this project. Details: Chicago: Jane Addams College of Social Work, 2008. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 9, 2011 at: http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/college/research_public_service/files/BORTechAsstEval_final2_SP.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/college/research_public_service/files/BORTechAsstEval_final2_SP.pdf Shelf Number: 122341 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Thalberg, Rebecca S. Title: Family-Based Re-Entry Programming: A Promising Tool for Reducing Recidivism and Mitigating the Economic and Societal Costs of Incarceration in California Summary: This paper explores the possibility of introducing family-based re-entry programming into California's correctional establishments as a means of facilitating an offender's successful transition from prison into society. Increasing the occurrence of successful reintegration will ultimately decrease the space constraints and costs associated with California's prison system and simultaneously work to mitigate the harmful collateral effects that imprisonment has on families and communities. After examining various models of family-based programming employed in other states, both short-term and long-term incorporation options are proposed, which are designed specifically to dovetail with California's existing structure. This proposal for gradual implementation incorporates the strongest components of the programs studied and is likely to result in higher success rates among offenders exiting prison. Details: Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Criminal Justice Center, 2006. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed August 11, 2011 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=976967 Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=976967 Shelf Number: 122370 Keywords: Costs of Criminal JusticeFamilies of InmatesPrisoner Reentry (California)Rehabilitation |
Author: Christian, Steve Title: Children of Incarcerated Parents Summary: The nation’s growing prison and jail population has raised serious questions about the collateral effects of incarceration on children, families and communities. Whatever one’s views about the appropriate role of incarceration in the criminal justice system, it is clear that imprisonment disrupts positive, nurturing relationships between many parents — particularly mothers — and their children. In addition, many families with children suffer economic strain and instability when a parent is imprisoned. Research suggests that intervening in the lives of incarcerated parents and their children to preserve and strengthen positive family connections can yield positive societal benefits in the form of reduced recidivism, less intergenerational criminal justice system involvement, and promotion of healthy child development. In the words of one prominent researcher, “[s]tudies . . . indicate that families are important to prisoners and to the achievement of major social goals, including the prevention of recidivism and delinquency.” Because this area is fraught with major data gaps, it is recommended that policymakers begin their exploration of the subject by posing a series of questions to their staffs and the heads of agencies with jurisdiction over law enforcement, corrections, child welfare, education and welfare, as well as child advocates, the university community and others who have an interest in ensuring the well-being of children whose parents are in custody. This report proposes a list of such questions, each followed by a discussion that is intended, not so much as a definitive answer, but as general background information. The information identifies only general trends, since specific answers to the questions posed will differ by state, depending on factors such as the existing policy context and service array, demographic trends and available data. Details: Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures, 2009. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 12, 2011 at: http://www.ncsl.org/documents/cyf/childrenofincarceratedparents.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncsl.org/documents/cyf/childrenofincarceratedparents.pdf Shelf Number: 122379 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Geller, Amanda Title: Beyond Absenteeism: Father Incarceration and Child Development Summary: High rates of incarceration among American men, coupled with high rates of fatherhood among men in prison, have motivated recent research on the effects of parental imprisonment on children’s development. We contribute to this literature using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the relationship between paternal incarceration and developmental outcomes for approximately 3,000 urban children. We estimate cross-sectional and longitudinal regression models that control not only for fathers’ basic demographic characteristics and a rich set of potential confounders, but also for several measures of pre-incarceration child development and family fixed effects. We find that paternal incarceration is associated with significant increases in children’s aggressive behavior at age five, and some evidence of increased attention problems. The estimated effects of paternal incarceration are stronger than those of other forms of father absence, suggesting that children with incarcerated fathers may require specialized support from caretakers, teachers, and social service providers. The estimated effects are also stronger for children who lived with their fathers prior to incarceration, but are significant for children of nonresident fathers, suggesting that incarceration places children at risk through family hardships including and beyond parent-child separation. Details: Princeton, NJ: Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, 2010. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Fragile Families Working Paper: WP09-20-FF: Accessed August !7, 2011 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP09-20-FF.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP09-20-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 122417 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Sugie, Naomi F. Title: Punishment and Welfare: Paternal Incarceration and Families’ Receipt of Public Assistance Summary: The US criminal justice and welfare systems together form important government interventions into the lives of the poor. This paper considers how imprisonment is related to welfare receipt for offenders and their families. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, it investigates how recent paternal incarceration is associated with families‟ receipt of TANF, food stamps, and Medicaid/SCHIP. Results robust to multiple tests find that incarceration does not increase the likelihood of TANF receipt but significantly increases food stamps and Medicaid/SCHIP receipt. Further, the effect of incarceration on welfare receipt is larger than the recent loss of father‟s employment. The findings suggest that an unexpected consequence of mass imprisonment is the expansion of government regulation through welfare provision for offenders‟ families. Details: Princeton, NJ: Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, 2011. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Fragile Families Working Paper:WP11-09-FF: Accessed August 17, 2011 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP11-09-FF.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP11-09-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 122418 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Economic AssistanceFamilies of InmatesPublic Welfare |
Author: California State University, San Bernardino. Center for the Study of Correctional Education Title: Service Provision for Inmate/Parolee Families: A Review of the Literature Summary: This paper reviews research illustrating the need for working with children and families of incarcerated adults and provides a set of recommendations for best practices in addressing this population. Details: San Bernadino, CA: Center for the Study of Correctional Education, 2009. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 26, 2011 at: http://coe.csusb.edu/programs/correctionalEd/documents/Service_Provis.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://coe.csusb.edu/programs/correctionalEd/documents/Service_Provis.pdf Shelf Number: 122553 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesPrisoner ReentryRehabilitation |
Author: Begg, Fiona Title: Serving Time on the Outside: A Survey of Visitors to Correctional Centres in the Wacol Region, Queensland Summary: In researching the issues and experiences of families of prisoners or visitors to correctional centres (prisons) in Australia it would appear that this has been a relatively limited research area to date. However with an average of 21 138 people held each day in Australian prisons one is talking about a considerable number of individuals and families throughout this country who are directly affected by the issue of imprisonment. “ For most inmates who face a prison term, their families will also begin a sentence: of physical, social, and psychological hardship. They will do so, in most instances, with a minimum of resources to draw upon and with little power to meet the additional demands on their trouble-plagued lives” (Jorgensen, Hernandez and Warren (1986:47) ACRO is a social justice organisation committed to the development of a safe and caring society. As such the organisation has been involved in delivering support services to prisoners and their families for over thirty years. In 1988 the organisation conducted surveys with visitors to the now closed and somewhat infamous Boggo Rd Goal as part of a submission process for a government review into the prisons system of the day. Four hundred and eighty (480) respondents completed surveys. A wide range of recommendations were included in the subsequent report, including a complete overhaul of the manner and methods by which prisons were run and the ways in which prisoners and their families were treated. Significant changes were introduced across a wide range of areas in corrections in this State as a result of that inquiry. In 2001 ACRO surveyed visitors to correctional centres in the Wacol area of Queensland. A total of eighty four (84) respondents completed the questionnaire. Surveys were undertaken at the ACRO Family Centre with persons visiting the following correctional centres : · Arthur Gorrie Remand and Reception Centre · Wolston Correctional Centre · Brisbane Womens Correctional Centre · Sir David Longland Correctional Centre (SDL) · Moreton B (since closed) This Report provides a snapshot of the experience of persons visiting correctional centres in the Wacol region; a region with the largest concentration of correctional centres in the State. In addition it provides background information about visitors such as their age, gender, income base and housing situation, enabling a general profile to be drawn. Added to this, the Report also provides a comparative analysis from survey work conducted with the same client group (persons visiting prison) in 1988. It is clear from the results of the present survey that for families/visitors of prisoners a number of key issues remain unaddressed, issues which cause significant levels of difficulty and stress for people already in a difficult and stressful situation. It is the intention of this Report to provide a window for persons involved in visiting a correctional centre to be able to view that experience in the context of being one of a significant number of people undergoing that experience; to reflect their views and opinions about their experiences, and for persons who have never experienced the corrections system directly to gain some insight as to the experience of visitors. Details: Lutwyche, Queensland: ACRO Australian Community Safety & Research Organisation Incorporated, 2002. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 6, 2011 at: http://www.acro.com.au/Reports/Serving%20Time%20Outside.pdf Year: 2002 Country: Australia URL: http://www.acro.com.au/Reports/Serving%20Time%20Outside.pdf Shelf Number: 122653 Keywords: Families of InmatesPrison VisitsPrisoners (Australia)Visitation |
Author: Haskins, Anna R. Title: The Unintended Consequences of Mass Imprisonment: Effects of Paternal Incarceration on Child School Readiness Summary: Though sociologists have examined the consequences of mass imprisonment of African-American men on the incarcerated men, their families, and their communities, no study has considered its impact on racial disparities in educational achievement. Analyzing the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and its rich paternal incarceration data, this study asks whether children with fathers who have been in prison are less prepared for school both academically and behaviorally as a result, and whether racial disparities in imprisonment explain some of the gap in white and black children‘s educational outcomes. Using a variety of estimation strategies, I show that experiencing paternal incarceration by age 5 is associated with lower child school readiness in behavioral but not cognitive skills. While the main effect of incarceration does not vary by race, boys with incarcerated fathers in their early childhood years have substantially worse behavioral skills at school entry. Because of the negative effects of incarceration on boys‘ behavioral skills and the much higher exposure of black children to incarceration, mass incarceration facilitates the intergenerational transmission of male behavioral disadvantage, and plays a role in explaining the persistently low achievement of black boys. Details: Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Sociology, 2011. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Fragile Families Working Paper: 11-18-FF; Accessed September 24, 2011 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP11-18-FF.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP11-18-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 122892 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)EducationFamilies of InmatesSchool Readiness |
Author: Hairston, Creasie Finney Title: Focus on Children with Incarcerated Parents: An Overview of the Research Literature Summary: What is it like to grow up with a parent in prison? What are the immediate and long-term effects of parental incarceration on children? How can we best serve the needs of these children and ensure that they receive the support they need to thrive under challenging circumstances? These are questions that still need to be answered. Research that focuses on children whose parents are incarcerated has been quite limited, despite the growing numbers of children who are affected by the imprisonment of their mother or father. Over 1.5 million children in the United States have a parent who is in prison. Several million more have grown up with a parent in prison during some part of their formative years. The children of incarcerated parents have long been an almost invisible population, but in recent years, they have begun to receive attention from public policymakers, traditional social service providers and academic researchers. Some, concerned about the rapidly growing correctional population of more than two million people, fear that these children are at a higher risk to become incarcerated themselves as adults. Others are motivated by a desire to better understand and promote the well-being of children living in challenging life circumstances. As government and foundations begin to support research and expand the development of programs and services for incarcerated parents and their children, it is an opportune time to review the research and resources that exist around this complex issue. Focus on Children with Incarcerated Parents provides an overview of major research findings concerning children whose parents are incarcerated. The report is intended to serve as a foundation for this developing area of service and 2. Sabol, Minton,& Harrison, 2007 inquiry, and its focus is on the children themselves. Although imprisonment is a global issue, and similar situations and concerns may affect other countries, Focus on Children with Incarcerated Parents is confined primarily to studies about prisoners and their children in the United States. This overview is based primarily on research published during the last 20 years, though some earlier works are included. It also draws on several years of consultation on programs and research involving prisoners and their families. Details: Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2007. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 24, 2011 at: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Special%20Interest%20Areas/Incarceration%20and%20Reentry/FocusonChildrenwithIncarceratedParentsAnOverv/HAIRSTON.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Special%20Interest%20Areas/Incarceration%20and%20Reentry/FocusonChildrenwithIncarceratedParentsAnOverv/HAIRSTON.pdf Shelf Number: 122893 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Hairston, Creasie Finney Title: Kinship Care When Parents Are Incarcerated: What We Know, What We Can Do Summary: When a parent is incarcerated, it affects their children, their extended family and the greater community. Family members who step in to care for the children during the parent’s absence face many obstacles. As well as practical considerations, such as domestic arrangements and financial issues, families must also meet the demands of the child welfare and criminal justice systems, and cope with the effects of social, community and institutional stigma. Many families are also dealing with issues such as poverty, and physical and mental illness. There are even greater stressors for the Native American and Latino populations that are over-represented in our prisons. Kinship arrangements made among these populations can be especially problematic, as parents may be incarcerated in prisons located far from reservation lands, isolated further by language barriers and burdened with fears that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) may remove their children from kinship care. Developing a better understanding of existing forms of kinship care for children of parents who are incarcerated is becoming increasingly central to our ability to address important social issues in the United States. Concerns about intergenerational crime and incarceration, significant increases in the number of women going to prison, and high concentrations of arrests in poor, inner city neighborhoods of color have directed considerable attention to the support and care of prisoners’ children. Kinship Care When Parents are Incarcerated examines the involvement of the child welfare system in children’s care and protection when parents are incarcerated, with a focus on kinship care. Kinship care is defined as care in which relatives other than a child’s parent assume parenting responsibilities for the child. It is a common care arrangement for children of incarcerated parents. There are three main forms of kinship care. Formal kinship care, also called relative foster care, refers to care provided by relatives when children are under the custody of the child welfare system. Voluntary kinship care typically refers to care provided by relatives when children are involved in the child welfare system, but not under the state custody. Private kinship care refers to private arrangements that families make without child welfare system involvement. Details: Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2009. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 24, 2011 at: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Child%20Welfare%20Permanence/Foster%20Care/KinshipCareWhenParentsAreIncarceratedWhatWeKn/10147801_Kinship_Paper06a%203.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Child%20Welfare%20Permanence/Foster%20Care/KinshipCareWhenParentsAreIncarceratedWhatWeKn/10147801_Kinship_Paper06a%203.pdf Shelf Number: 122894 Keywords: Child Welfare AgenciesChildren of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Bouchet, Stacey M. Title: Children and Families With Incarcerated Parents: Exploring Development in the Field and Opportunities for Growth Summary: Children and families with incarcerated parents not only face the trauma of loss, but also a range of economic and social conditions that result from incarceration. Concerned about the vulnerability of this population, the Annie E. Casey Foundation began an exploration of the nature and scope of this issue and the gaps that need to be filled. This report provides a summary of the Foundation’s findings, a listing of the Foundation’s recent investments in this area, and synthesizes the learnings into potential opportunities for the field at large. Details: Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2008. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 24, 2011 at: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Child%20Welfare%20Permanence/Foster%20Care/KinshipCareWhenParentsAreIncarceratedWhatWeKn/10147801_Kinship_Paper06a%203.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.aecf.org/~/media/Pubs/Topics/Child%20Welfare%20Permanence/Foster%20Care/KinshipCareWhenParentsAreIncarceratedWhatWeKn/10147801_Kinship_Paper06a%203.pdf Shelf Number: 122895 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: U.S. Government Accountability Office Title: Child Welfare: More Information and Collaboration Could Promote Ties Between Foster Care Children and Their Incarcerated Parents Summary: Federal law sets timelines for states' decisions about placing foster care children in permanent homes, and, in some cases, for filing to terminate parental rights. Some policymakers have questioned the reasonableness of these timelines for children of incarcerated parents and expressed interest in how states work with these families. GAO was asked to examine: (1) the number of foster care children with incarcerated parents, (2) strategies used by child welfare and corrections agencies in selected states that may support contact or reunification, and (3) how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have helped these agencies support affected children and families. GAO analyzed national data, reviewed federal policies, interviewed state child welfare and corrections officials in 10 selected states that contain almost half of the nation's prison and foster care populations, and visited local child welfare agencies and prisons. Foster care children with an incarcerated parent are not a well-identified population, although they are likely to number in the tens of thousands. HHS data collected from states show that, in 2009 alone, more than 14,000 children entered foster care due at least partly to the incarceration of a parent. This may be an undercount, however, due to some underreporting from states and other factors. For instance, the data do not identify when a parent is incarcerated after the child entered foster care--a more common occurrence, according to case workers GAO interviewed. HHS is currently developing a proposal for new state reporting requirements on all foster care children; however, officials had not determined whether these new requirements would include more information collected from states on children with incarcerated parents. In 10 selected states, GAO found a range of strategies that support family ties. Some state child welfare agencies have provided guidance and training to caseworkers for managing such cases; and local agencies have worked with dependency courts to help inmates participate in child welfare hearings by phone or other means. For their part, some corrections agencies ease children's visits to prisons with special visitation hours and programs. In several cases, corrections agencies and child welfare agencies have collaborated, which has resulted in some interagency training for personnel, the creation of liaison staff positions, and video visitation facilitated by non-profit providers. HHS and DOJ each provide information and assistance to child welfare and corrections agencies on behalf of these children and families. For example, both federal agencies post information on their websites for practitioners working with children or their incarcerated parents, with some specific to foster care. The HHS information, however, was not always up to date or centrally organized, and officials from most of the state child welfare and corrections agencies GAO interviewed said they would benefit from information on how to serve these children. Further, DOJ has not developed protocols for federal prisons under its own jurisdiction for working with child welfare agencies and their staff, although GAO heard from some state and local child welfare officials that collaboration between child welfare and corrections agencies would facilitate their work with foster care children and their parents. This would also be in keeping with a DOJ agency goal to build partnerships with other entities to improve services and promote reintegration of offenders into communities. GAO recommends that HHS improve its data on the foster care children of incarcerated parents and that it more systematically disseminate information to child welfare agencies. GAO also recommends that DOJ consider ways to promote collaboration between corrections and child welfare agencies, including establishing protocols for federal prisons to facilitate communication between these entities. HHS and DOJ agreed with GAO's recommendations. Details: Washington, DC: GAO, 2011. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: GAO-11-863: Accessed September 27, 2011 at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11863.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11863.pdf Shelf Number: 122921 Keywords: Child Welfare (U.S.)Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFoster Care |
Author: Parkman, Tiffaney S. Title: The Transition to Adulthood and Prisoner Reentry: Investigating the Experiences of Young Adult Men and their Caregivers Summary: The issue of reentry has become an important topic to criminal justice scholars and to law makers due to the sheer number of incarcerated individuals being released and the rate in which they cycle back to incarceration. Despite the attention reentry issues have received recently in the areas of policy and criminal justice and recommendations offered to ameliorate problems associated with reentry, the landscape of reentry remains largely unchanged in that many prisoners are released from prison and significant numbers of them return (Austin, 2001). Approximately 700,000 inmates were released from prisons and jails to their families and communities in 2005 (Harrison & Beck, 2006). Of those inmates, roughly 1/3rd were young adults aged 24 or younger (Mears & Travis, 2004). The outcomes for young adults (age 18-24) incarcerated at such young ages put them at overwhelming risk of a life course trajectory that includes cycles of future imprisonment and poor life outcomes such as economic hardship, poor mental and physical well being and lower life expectancy (Mears & Travis, 2004; Uggen, 2000; Western, 2002) . This study examined the meanings of formerly incarcerated young adult men and their caregivers made in regard to reentry, caregivers’ ability to meet reentry needs, perceptions about reliance on family and the implications of a young adult child “returning home” within the context of release from incarcerative sentencing. This goal was achieved through conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated men between the ages of 18 and 24 and their caregivers for a total of 18 individual interviews that reflect nine young men-caregiver dyads defined as families for this study. This qualitative study was informed using an integration of family life course perspective, symbolic interactionism and ecological theory. The theoretical amalgam provided the ability to examine the life course transitions of families impacted by incarceration, the perceptions and meanings made based upon the experience with incarceration while being imbedded within a socially stigmatized context of having a felony. The findings from this study suggest that upon reentry young adult men and their caregivers experienced ambivalence, happiness yet anxiety in moving forward after incarceration. This ambivalence was a major theme that was found not only in reunification, but in relying on family and in fostering independence. Caregivers were emotionally distressed as they juggled their feelings of wanting to help the young men with meeting the multiple demands placed on the family system with their concerns that he might return to his “old ways.” Young men were particularly distressed as they negotiated transitioning from a state of independence (prior to incarceration) to dependence as a prisoner in the criminal justice system, to depending on caregivers upon reentry. The young men in this study reported achieving financial independence from their families prior to incarceration as adolescents through illegal means which gave them adult status in their families. These “off-time” transitions before and after incarceration fueled the ambivalence and ambiguity in the young men-caregiver dyads, specifically in terms of the meanings these families made when thinking about reunification, relying on family and in fostering independence. Details: Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2009. 188p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 25, 2011 at: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04172009-123438/unrestricted/TIFFANEYSPARKMAN.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04172009-123438/unrestricted/TIFFANEYSPARKMAN.pdf Shelf Number: 123126 Keywords: Families of InmatesFamily ProcessPrisoner ReentryPrisoners |
Author: Shanahan, Ryan Title: Close to Home: Building on Family Support for People Leaving Jail Summary: Most research and programming about incarcerated people and their family support systems focus on prison settings. Because jail is substantially different from prison — most notably, time served there is usually shorter — it is not clear that policies and practices that work in prisons can be applied successfully in jails. This report describes the Family Justice Program’s Close to Home project, which implemented the Relational Inquiry Tool (RIT) — a series of questions originally designed for and tested in prisons to stimulate incarcerated people’s thinking about supportive family members as a resource — in three jails in Maryland and Wisconsin. The report also discusses the results from qualitative and quantitative research at the three facilities, aimed at gauging the attitudes of jail staff, incarcerated men and women, and family members toward the RIT. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2011. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.vera.org/download?file=3377/Close%2520to%2520home_report_v.5.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.vera.org/download?file=3377/Close%2520to%2520home_report_v.5.pdf Shelf Number: 123190 Keywords: Families of InmatesJail InmatesPrisoner ReentryPrisoners |
Author: Meyerson, Jessica Title: Strengthening Families Impacted by Incarceration: A Review of Current Research and Practice Summary: In early 2009 the Volunteers of America announced plans to launch a new nationwide “Family Strengthening” initiative. The purpose of this initiative is to strengthen and support families affected by parental incarceration. Five pilot sites, Volunteers of America Dakotas, Volunteers of America Illinois ,Volunteers of America Indiana, Volunteers of America Northern New England, and Volunteers of America Texas have been selected to design and implement the new initiative. In February 2009, Volunteers of America asked Wilder Research to conduct a thorough literature review to identify any research-based programs or practices that could be incorporated into the new Family Strengthening model. The literature reviewed for this report includes: Research-based analyses and scholarly articles by leaders in the reentry field (e.g., Petersilia, 2004 and Travis and Waul, 2003); Studies commissioned by governmental agencies (e.g., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Justice, etc.) Reports by leading organizations committed to the issue of reentry, child well-being, or crime reduction (e.g., Public/Private Ventures, the Urban Institute, Family Justice, National Crime Prevention Council, Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Family Corrections Network, etc.) Well-established “best practices” and “evidence-based programs” directories and compendia (e.g., SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices, OJJDP’s Model Programs Guide, the Children Bureau’s Child Information Gateway, etc.) Unfortunately, rigorous evaluations of what works in the arenas of prisoner reentry and working with families affected by incarceration are notoriously scarce. One meta-analysis of the reentry field found that for the entire 25 year period from 1975-2000, when “hundreds of work release programs, halfway houses, job training education programs, prerelease classes, and so forth, were implemented in the U.S., the literature contains only nine credible evaluations” (Petersilia, 2004). Indeed, as far as the authors of this report could determine, no “evidence-based” program currently provides truly comprehensive, long-term supportive services to entire families affected by incarceration. However, there are several prisoner reentry programs that have successfully incorporated some elements of family support into their approach (e.g., Family Justice’s La Bodega de Familia program and the Osborne Association’s FamilyWorks program). There are also a number of positive youth development programs and child welfare approaches (such as one-on-one mentoring for high-risk youth, and family group conferencing and wraparound services for families in crisis) that appear to hold some promise for prisoners and their families. Finally, several programs have demonstrated significant success in partnering with the faith-based community to provide support to prisoners and their families. Each of these programs and approaches could serve as a partial model for organizations seeking to implement family-centered reentry programs. In addition, the existing body of research strongly supports several basic practices that could be used to guide the development and implementation of a comprehensive, long-term support program for families affected by incarceration. For example, there is significant evaluation research to support the use of cognitive behavioral therapy to address families’ social and emotional dysfunction, and there is a strong expert consensus for involving the families of prisoners in pre-release planning. To incorporate the broad and diverse range of research that speaks to families affected by incarceration, the remainder of this literature review is organized into three sections: A brief review of the service needs of families affected by incarceration A review of the most widely agreed upon research-based “practices” related to families affected by incarceration An inventory of specific evidence-based programs, service models, and curricula that have been used to provide supportive services to incarcerated parents, their children, and their children’s caregivers This organizational structure is intended to offer an accessible, practice-focused overview of both specific programming options and broad practices and principles that are relevant to supporting families affected by incarceration. An extensive bibliography and resource list are included at the end of this report. Details: St. Paul, MN: Wilder Research, 2008. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=2180 Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=2180 Shelf Number: 123191 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesPrisoner Reentry |
Author: Cooper, Thalia Title: Bridge Builders for Kids: A Follow-up Study of Mentors and Mentees Summary: Bridge Builders for Kids is a Christian organization that offers a year-round mentoring program for children who have parents in prison. This program serves the Twin Cities and Rochester, Minnesota. The primary purpose of this one-on-one mentoring program is to support boys and girls, ages 5 to 18, by matching them with a Christian adult to engage them in relationship-building activities, and offer them ongoing support until the age of 18. The founders of Bridge Builders based their programming on the PAN Theory - Positive Adult Nurturing. They recognized, based on research and observation, that exposure to violence at young ages (0 to 10) increases the likelihood that young people will act out violently as adults. They discovered that too little positive one-on-one parental nurturing as well as personal trauma are among the most significant contributing environmental factors. Through a faith-based network of caring, supportive mentors, Bridge Builders for Kids aims to break the cycle of violence and incarceration for children of prisoners. Bridge Builders for Kids contracted with Wilder Research to design and carry out an evaluation plan designed to assess the value and impact of the program. The plan included having mentees complete a telephone survey administered by Bridge Builders for Kids volunteers (not their mentors) during which youth were asked to describe their experiences with the mentoring program and how their lives may have been affected by the activities and relationships that were developed. Mentors were interviewed by telephone by professional survey interviewers at Wilder Research. The study shows that while there are some challenges in developing and maintaining a long-term relationship with a child of an incarcerated offender, there are clearly important benefits that can accrue to a child in such a relationship. Results of the mentee survey show that mentors have been successful in creating relationships which feel safe to the child and where the child feels understood. In addition, mentors report that their mentees show more interest in school over time, more hopefulness about the future and an improved ability to appreciate new experiences. The majority of mentors were highly satisfied with their experience and only a few reported specific difficulties with issues like scheduling time with mentees (13%) or establishing boundaries (13%). Mentees also expressed high satisfaction with their relationships with mentors and the vast majority(91%) say that their mentor makes them feel important. Taken together these results indicate that Bridge Builders is having a valuable and positive effect in the lives of young people whose parents are incarcerated. Moreover it appears that the processes that are being used to identify both mentors and mentees has been successful in helping to identify positive role models for youth and in identifying young people whose lives can benefit from such relationships. Details: St. Paul, MN: Wilder Research, 2009. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=2147 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=2147 Shelf Number: 123192 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesMentoring |
Author: Fuger, Kathryn L. Title: Strengthening Families and Fatherhood: Children of Fathers in the Criminal Justice System Project. Final Evaluation Report, July 1, 2005 - June 30, 2008 Summary: Strengthening Families and Fatherhood: Children of Fathers in the Criminal Justice System, otherwise known as Fathers for Life – A Head Start Father Involvement Model, developed as an Innovation and Improvement Project (IIP), funded through the Office of Head Start. Fathers for Life – A Head Start Father Involvement Model (referred to in this document as Fathers for Life) addressed the priority area of Strengthening Families/Fatherhood of the President’s Head Start initiatives. Office of Head Start first awarded Missouri Department of Social Services Family Support Division (FSD) funding to develop a sound logic model and theory of change during a 9-month Planning Phase. During the 3-year Implementation Phase that followed, the logic model continued to develop as the project entered early stages of implementation. This report summarizes the project model and describes the results of these efforts in the state of Missouri, in the local communities in which it was instituted, and in the lives of the fathers who participated. Some concluding comments summarize the initiative, pose additional questions, and give suggestions for next steps. Five sections comprise the body of this report. These sections present the following information: • The first section of this report provides a history of this work and describes the Fathers for Life logic model and theory of change in more detail. It describes the intended outcomes systemically at the state level, programmatically at the community level, and in practice at the level of fathers’ outcomes related to parenting their children. • The second section presents the evaluation findings of the Fathers for Life work at the state level that aimed for systemic change. Processes and outcomes related to these areas are discussed: project administration, State Steering Committee leadership, curriculum and product development, statewide dissemination of information, and capacity building through training and technical assistance. A profile of the Missouri Fathers for Life initiative describes this systemic work at the state level. • The evaluation findings associated with programmatic development of Fathers for Life at the local level are presented in the third section. The data describe both activities and outcomes regarding the following: Head Start leadership, development of local stakeholder teams, and training of local staff. Profiles of the first five Missouri communities to implement the model are presented. • In the fourth section the evaluation findings document the engagement of fathers in Fathers for Life through their involvement with a service coordinator and their access to interventions. The section features profiles of the fathers that participated and a summary of the outcomes that they achieved. • Finally, a discussion in the fifth section of the report reflects on both the successes and the challenges of the Fathers for Life initiative. Replication and sustainability are discussed, and other suggestions are made concerning possible next steps. Details: Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri - Kansas City, Institute for Human Development, 2008. 135p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.fatherhood.org/Document.Doc?id=50 Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.fatherhood.org/Document.Doc?id=50 Shelf Number: 123196 Keywords: Children of PrisonersEarly Childhood EducationFamilies of InmatesFathersHead StartParenting |
Author: Rutgers University-Newark Economic Development Research Group, School of Public Affairs and Administration Title: Assessing the Impact of InsideOut Dad™ on Newark Community Education Centers (CEC) Residential Reentry Center Residents Summary: This report presents a multi-method evaluation of the InsideOut Dad™ program in three Community Education Centers (CEC) Residential Reentry Centers in New Jersey. The current evaluation includes both quantitative and qualitative data in the form of participant surveys, institutional data collection, participant interviews, and stakeholder interviews. These methods are used to determine if the program has had an impact across a series of outcome measures. In March of 2010, National Fatherhood Initiative agreed to an evaluation framework for Inside Out Dad™ with Rutgers University’s Economic Development Research Group (EDRG). Specifically, the objective of the research project was stated as an effort to evaluate the program’s effectiveness and assess the potential for further expansion. The program was initially implemented at each of the three facilities by the summer of 2010. During the evaluation period, a total of 307 participants graduated from the program, completing both pre- and post-test surveys. The evaluation period ended in June of 2011 although post-program data was collected on participants through August of 2011. National Fatherhood Initiative’s (NFI) InsideOut Dad™ program was implemented at three sites in Newark, New Jersey: Delaney Hall, the Harbor, and Tully House. Delaney Hall, opened in 2000, houses a capacity of 1,196 adult male offenders from both Essex County and New Jersey State Parole Board populations. The site operates programs including “substance abuse treatment, life skills training, individual and group counseling, relapse prevention, anger management, and educational and GED services” (Community Education Centers). The facility also operates a well-staffed Family Services program. Delaney Hall is the largest of the CEC sites in New Jersey. Delaney Hall graduated 101 participants from the InsideOut Dad™ program for this evaluation. The Harbor, opened in 2000 with a capacity of 234, contracts residents from the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Originally located in Hoboken, the facility was moved to Newark in 2009 at a site adjacent to Tully House. The Harbor offers “GED preparation, adult basic education, life skills, anger management, relapse prevention, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, twelve step education, family groups and job skills” (Community Education Centers). The Harbor graduated 89 participants from the InsideOut Dad™ program. Tully House, opened in 1998, contracts residents from the New Jersey Department of Corrections. The site has a capacity of 315 residents. At the facility a variety of services are offered including “work release, vocational, educational, and college educational referral enrollment” (Community Education Centers). Tully House also focuses on “domestic violence, anger management, relapse prevention, parenting skills and criminality groups” (Community Education Centers). An active Family Service Program is also operated at the facility. Tully House graduated 117 participants from the InsideOut Dad™ program. This report is presented in several sections. The remainder of this section provides a concise review of the research on the effects of parental incarceration and programs for fathers in prisons. The second section contains a brief summary of the components to the InsideOut Dad™ program and discusses two previous evaluations of the program conducted in Maryland and Ohio. The third section rephrases the purpose of the current evaluation. The fourth section details the methodology utilized within this evaluation. Data collection and analysis procedures are described in detail. In the fifth section, the quantitative results are presented and analyzed from survey and institutional data. The sixth section introduces the qualitative results of the study from interviews with participants and stakeholders. The seventh section describes the most important limitations associated with the study. The eighth section offers a conclusion that reiterates the main findings and implications of the current evaluation. The final section provides recommendations from the study. Details: Newark, NJ: Rutgers University-Newark Economic Development Research Group, School of Public Affairs and Administration, 2011. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2011 at: http://www.fatherhood.org/Document.Doc?id=296 Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.fatherhood.org/Document.Doc?id=296 Shelf Number: 123197 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFathersPrisoner Reentry (Newark, NJ)Treatment Programs, Male Offenders |
Author: Kingi, Venezia Title: Mothers with Babies in Prison: Some Women Prisoners' Perspectives Summary: The Department of Corrections Policy, Strategy and Research Group commissioned researchers at the Crime and Justice Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington to obtain the perspectives of some women prisoners about topics related to proposed legislation to extend the length of time to 24 months that mothers can care for their babies in prison. The specific objectives of the research were: • to ascertain female prisoners’ family structures and child care arrangements prior to imprisonment; • to ascertain child care arrangements made while in prison, how stable they are and how comfortable mothers are with them; • to understand mothers’ views on the appropriateness and desirability of having their children with them in prison, and whether they would apply for such access; • to identify the education, parenting and rehabilitation needs of female prisoners; • to ascertain female prisoners’ willingness and motivation to enter into parenting agreements, including the obligation to participate in parenting education; • to ascertain female prisoners’ willingness to relocate to a prison that has mothers with babies facilities; and • to ascertain the re-integration support needs of female prisoners with children when they leave prison. The research used a survey of 258 women prisoners and in-depth interviews with 10 women prisoners during May-June 2008 to obtain information relating to the research objectives. The overall findings indicate that nearly six in ten women prisoners surveyed support the proposal to extend the length of time that mothers can care for their babies in prison and half of those with dependent children would take up the option. All of the 258 women prisoners surveyed were asked whether they thought it was a good idea for mothers to be able to have children aged less than 24 months live with them in prison. Nearly six out of ten (59%) agreed it was a good idea, 32 percent did not, and nine percent responded that they did not know. Those who were most likely to agree were: • women prisoners aged 15-19 years (84%). This was true for both Māori and Non-Māori women prisoners aged 15-19 years (81% and 100% (or three out of three) respectively); • Asian women prisoners (100% or five out of five); • women prisoners with a dependent child aged two years or younger (64%); • women prisoners who had previously been in prison (65%); and • women prisoners who thought it was neither important nor unimportant that the prison in which they were incarcerated was near to their family/whānau (75%). Women prisoners who had been the main caregiver prior to coming into prison were slightly less likely to think it was a good idea (54%). Seventy seven percent of those opposing an extension to the current policy simply reasoned that ‘Children should not be brought up in prison.’ The next most common reason given by 60 percent of these women for being opposed to a possible change of policy was that ‘It would be too painful for mothers serving long sentences to have to give up their children when they got too old to be in the unit.’ Thirdly, 43 percent of these women were of the opinion that ‘Children should be with their family/whānau if their mothers are in prison.’ All the women interviewed in-depth supported the concept of mothers being able to care for their babies in prison. However, their opinions were divided about the upper age limit of the child. These women thought that the quality of the care that could be provided by a mother to her baby in prison needed to be balanced against the difficulty of separating from the baby (if the length of the prison sentence made that necessary) and the quality of the care that baby could receive on the outside. The advantages of an extension of the upper age limit to 24 months articulated by these women interviewed in-depth were variations around the theme of enabling more unbroken mother/baby bonding and breast feeding time. For mothers serving shorter prison sentences an extension of the current policy increased the chances of them being able to provide uninterrupted care for their babies. The views of Māori women prisoners surveyed on the desirability and implementation of this policy were similar to women prisoners as a whole. Nearly half (49%) of women prisoners with dependent children would apply to have a child under 24 months live with them in prison. The percentage increased slightly to 54% for women prisoners with a child aged two years or younger at the time of the survey. Māori women prisoners were also slightly more likely to hold this view (52%). The women (including Māori women) were slightly more likely to choose having their children live with them in a Mothers and Babies Unit regardless of whether that unit was close to their family/whānau. Most commonly women would be willing to undertake parenting programmes (77%). child development education (72%) or relationship skills (71%) programmes if these were made a condition of having a child live with them in prison. Overall, over nine in ten all the women prisoners thought that they would benefit from taking part in programmes while in prison. Those programmes most often mentioned were budgeting, drug and alcohol, relationship skills, parenting, child development education, anger management and family violence prevention programmes. Women’s views about the reintegration of mothers into the community on their release indicated that most mothers need support with housing (81%) parenting (77%), employment (73%) and childcare (69%). In extending the proposed policy to 24 months, the following factors may need to be taken into account: • the difficulty of separation from an older child; • the suitability of the prison environment generally; • ongoing financial considerations for women and their families; • safety of the prison environment for toddlers; • access to health care for babies/toddlers at all times, including during the night; • access to child care facilities to support the educational, social and physical development of these children; and • the establishment of dedicated facilities for mothers and babies/toddlers. Details: Wellington, NZ: Crime and Justice Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, 2008. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2012 at: www.corrections.govt.nz Year: 2008 Country: New Zealand URL: Shelf Number: 123597 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale Inmates (New Zealand) |
Author: La Vigne, Nancy G. Title: One Year Out: Tracking the Experiences of Male Prisoners Returning to Houston, Texas Summary: Of the 61,000 men released from Texas prisons, roughly 13,000 call Houston their home. These men face challenges across a wide array of skill deficits and needs. In an effort to understand the factors contributing to successful reentry and inform policies to ensure a safer return for both prisoners and the communities in which they reside, the Urban Institute conducted a study of 210 men exiting Texas prisons and returning to the Houston area. This report presents findings from three waves of interviews with these men, conducted shortly before and at two points after their release. Details: Washington, DC: Justice Policy Center, Urban Institute, 2009. 20p. Source: Research Report: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 27, 2012 at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411911_male_prisoners_houston.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411911_male_prisoners_houston.pdf Shelf Number: 123791 Keywords: Families of InmatesMale OffendersPrisoner Reentry (Texas)Reintegration, Offenders |
Author: Shollenberger, Tracey L. Title: When Relatives Return: Interviews with Family Members of Returning Prisoners in Houston, Texas Summary: This research brief examines the challenges of incarceration and reentry from the perspective of family members in Houston, Texas. Prior research documents that returning prisoners expect and receive high levels of support from family after release, and that those who have access to family support fare better than those who do not on a range of reentry outcomes. Given the potential value of involving family in reentry planning, this report offers useful information about the family members who are closest to returning prisoners and the challenges they face in supporting their relatives. Details: Washington, DC: Justice Policy Center, Urban Institute, 2009. 17p. Source: Research Report: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 27, 2012 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 123793 Keywords: Families of InmatesPrisoner Reentry (Texas) |
Author: Spain, Susan Kennedy Title: InsideOut Dad Program in Maryland and Ohio Prisons - Evaluation Report Summary: The social, economic, and emotional impacts of parents who are incarcerated are clearly suffered by the children of these parents. The National Institute of Corrections noted that, "Parental arrest and confinement lead to stress, trauma, stigmatization, and separation problems for the children. These problems are coupled with existing troubles that include poverty, violence, parental substance abuse, high crime environments, intra-family abuse, abuse and neglect, multiple care givers, or prior separations. As a result, these children often exhibit a broad variety of behavioral, emotional, health, and educational problems that are compounded by the pain of separation" (LIS, Inc. for NIC, 2002, p.1). In addition, children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely than other children to be incarcerated at some point in their lives (Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, Senate Report 106-404, 2001). These parents also feel the strain of separation from their families. There are many benefits to keeping the families intact even though a parent is incarcerated. Less strain and stress for both children and parents have been noted, and parents who are incarcerated can still be involved in their children’s lives in a positive way. Parental contact can build supportive and healthy relationships that help both the parents and children especially upon the offender’s reentry back into the community. How widespread is the problem of incarcerated parents with minor children? In the most recent national survey of incarcerated parents conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and released as a Special Report: Incarcerated Parents and Their Children (Mumola, 2000), parents held in U. S. prisons had an estimated 1,498,800 minor children in 1999. Between 1991 and 1999, which represents an eight-year span, an increase of over 500,000 minors with parents in prison occurred. With the prison population continuing to increase (Harrison and Beck, 2006) and another eight year span approaching since the BJS survey on incarcerated parents, we can only surmise that we have at least another 500,000 children to add to the statistics cited from the 1999 survey bringing the estimated total to 2,000,000 minor children with parents in prison. The Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents estimates there are 2.8 million minor children with incarcerated parents in prisons and jails (2006). Not much is being done in the prisons to address this widespread problem. Although more than half of the state prisoners and close to two-thirds of federal prisoners had at least one minor child, a majority of both fathers and mothers reported never having a personal visit with their children since admission (Mumola, 2000, p.5). Almost three-fourths of the fathers (and more than 50% of the mothers) were serving sentences of more than five years (Ibid. p.6). This means that many of these minor children will lose contact with their incarcerated parent for long periods of time and in some cases permanently. Many states have inadequate resources for programs that provide services to families. Moreover, the limited programs currently found in prisons that address family reunification or parenting are more likely found in prisons for women rather than for men (LIS, Inc. for NIC, 2002, p.6). While these programs are essential for both parents, they are especially lacking for fathers in prison. National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI) designed the InsideOut Dad™ Program to address the specific needs of incarcerated fathers by bridging the gap between the inmate father and his children (NFI, 2005). Details: Germantown, Maryland: National Fatherhood Initiative, 2009. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2012 at http://www.fatherhood.org/document.doc?id=57 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.fatherhood.org/document.doc?id=57 Shelf Number: 123963 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Ohio) (Maryland)Families of InmatesFathers |
Author: Smith, Linda G. Title: National Fatherhood Initiative Summary: The social, economic, and emotional impacts of parents who are incarcerated are clearly suffered by the children of these parents. The National Institute of Corrections noted that, “Parental arrest and confinement lead to stress, trauma, stigmatization, and separation problems for the children. These problems are coupled with existing troubles that include poverty, violence, parental substance abuse, high crime environments, intra-family abuse, abuse and neglect, multiple care givers, or prior separations. As a result, these children often exhibit a broad variety of behavioral, emotional, health, and educational problems that are compounded by the pain of separation” (LIS, Inc. for NIC, 2002, p.1). In addition, children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely than other children to be incarcerated at some point in their lives (Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill, Senate Report 106-404, 2001). These parents also feel the strain of separation from their families. There are many benefits to keeping the families intact even though a parent is incarcerated. Less strain and stress for both children and parents have been noted, and parents who are incarcerated can still be involved in their children’s lives in a positive way. Parental contact can build supportive and healthy relationships that help both the parents and children especially upon the offender’s reentry back into the community. How widespread is the problem of incarcerated parents with minor children? In the most recent national survey of incarcerated parents conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and released as a Special Report: Incarcerated Parents and Their Children (Mumola, 2000), parents held in U. S. prisons had an estimated 1,498,800 minor children in 1999. Between 1991 and 1999, which represents an eight year span, an increase of over 500,000 minors with parents in prison occurred. With the prison population continuing to increase (Harrison and Beck, 2006) and another eight year span approaching since the BJS survey on incarcerated parents, we can only surmise that we have at least another 500,000 children to add to the statistics cited from the 1999 survey bringing the estimated total to 2,000,000 minor children with parents in prison. The Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents estimates there are 2.8 million minor children with incarcerated parents in prisons and jails (2006). Not much is being done in the prisons to address this widespread problem. Although more than half of the state prisoners and close to two-thirds of federal prisoners had at least one minor child, a majority of both fathers and mothers reported never having a personal visit with their children since admission (Mumola, 2000, p.5). Almost three-fourths of the fathers (and more than 50% of the mothers) were serving sentences of more than five years (Ibid. p.6). This means that many of these minor children will lose contact with their incarcerated parent for long periods of time and in some cases permanently. Many states have inadequate resources for programs that provide services to families. Moreover, the limited programs currently found in prisons that address family reunification or parenting are more likely found in prisons for women rather than for men (LIS, Inc. for NIC, 2002, p.6). While these programs are essential for both parents, they are especially lacking for fathers in prison. National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI) designed the InsideOut Dad™ Program to address the specific needs of incarcerated fathers by bridging the gap between the inmate father and his children (NFI, 2005). Details: Germantown, Maryland: National Fatherhood Initiative, 2008. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2012 at http://www.fatherhood.org/document.doc?id=60 Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.fatherhood.org/document.doc?id=60 Shelf Number: 123964 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFathers |
Author: Mason-White, Holly Title: Children of (Alleged) Offenders: Revised Draft Framework for Decision-Making Summary: Around the world, children are affected when a parent goes into prison. Their relationships can change and come under strain, both with the incarcerated parent and with others. They can experience the stigma and shame of being associated with a prisoner. They may have to change their home, school and friends because of parental imprisonment. They may become poorer, with the family having less income and more prison-related costs. Their education may suffer and long-term prospects be at risk. And their attitudes towards the criminal justice system may be permanently affected by having a parent taken away. Children of incarcerated parents, like children in general, are all individuals. Each will have a different experience of and response to parental imprisonment, and the unique situation of each child should be considered in all interactions with them and decisions that affect them. However, they should in all cases be considered and their rights upheld, in particular their right not to be discriminated against because of the actions of their parent, their right to be consulted and heard in decisions affecting them, and their right to have their best interests be a primary consideration in all matters that affect them. This revised draft Framework is a comprehensive exploration of the relevant child rights issues throughout the criminal justice process, from a parent’s arrest or detention to release following imprisonment. Rather than trying to provide detailed answers to every issue raised, we hope to alert criminal justice and other professionals to the issues so that they can develop their own context-specific solutions. To aid this, we have included examples of potential good practice throughout, as well as relevant international and regional standards in the annexe. Details: Geneva: Quaker United Nations Office, 2012. 99p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 30, 2012 at: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/201203draft_framework_col.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/201203draft_framework_col.pdf Shelf Number: 124771 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Kearney, Helen F. Title: Children of Parents Sentenced to Death Summary: The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child devoted its 2011 Day of General Discussion to ‘Children of Incarcerated Parents’. These children have committed no crime. Yet – as hundreds of participants who work with these children around the world came to testify – they are directly and powerfully impacted by their parent’s involvement with the criminal justice system. Over the course of the day, it became apparent that several issues within this neglected field require further consideration. One such issue was the differentiated impact of different crimes and sentences. Amnesty International prepared a written submission to raise awareness of the impact of a parent’s death sentence on children. It focussed on situations that occur in violation of existing international standards on the use of capital punishment, namely secrecy surrounding detention on death row and execution. However, whether or not a parent’s death sentence has been lawfully applied, their children are affected. Quakers oppose capital punishment in all circumstances, but this paper focuses on the children of parents sentenced to death. It begins to explore the diverse and multi-faceted impacts of the death sentence on the children of the accused. Details: Geneva: Quaker United Nations Office, 2012. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 30, 2012 at: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/ChildrenOfParentsSentencedToDeath.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/ChildrenOfParentsSentencedToDeath.pdf Shelf Number: 124775 Keywords: Capital PunishmentChildren of PrisonersDeath PenaltyFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Hutton, Linda Title: Circle's Families Affected by Imprisonment Project: Throughcare for Female Offenders Summary: SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS The profile of those 59 clients who have worked with Circle during the first 3 years of the Families Affected by Imprisonment (‘FABI’) project confirms that these women have multiple needs and complex histories. Their profile is as follows: Aged between 17 and 46 at first contact; Have between 1 and 7 children, predominantly cared for by grandparents; Almost one-quarter (24%) self-refer to the service; Most have multiple needs: 62% have drug misuse issues; 27% alcohol misuse issues; 54% mental health issues; and over half have experienced physical abuse; The approximate age at which offending careers had begun ranged from 10 to 39 years, with the highest proportions having their first offence recorded at age 15 or less (38%) or 16 to 21 years (33%); Offending ‘careers’ prior to contact with Circle ranged from 2 to 26 years, with 57% having offending careers of ten years or more; The highest proportion (43%) are serving their first custodial sentence, with the remainder serving between their 2nd and 7th custodial sentences; First custodial sentences had been received between the ages of 17 and 44, with 32% receiving their first custodial sentence at age 31 or older; Those who had received prior custodial sentences had received total terms of between 1 and 41 months over all such sentences; For the sentence being served at the time of first contact with Circle, clients had received sentences of between 2 and 48 months; The most common offending profile is one of violent offences (34%), followed by crimes of dishonesty (22%); One-third of clients (34%) received no visitors while in custody; over half (56%) received no visits from their children. In spite of this profile, outcomes for those working with the FABI project are incredibly positive, with 79% of those released from custody having received no further custodial sentences. To summarise: Of the 52 clients released from custody, 79% have received no further custodial sentences; Effective engagement was achieved with 85% of clients after their release from custody; Of the 33 clients with custodial sentences prior to that which brought them into contact with Circle, 58% received no further custodial sentences; Of the 25 clients with no prior custodial sentences, only 1 received a further custodial sentence; ii With regard to further custodial sentences, a decrease in longer sentences (over 12 months) and an increase in shorter sentences (12 months or less) was evident in comparing pre- and post-service figures; A decrease between pre- and post-service figures with regard to number of custodial sentences was also evident; Those who engaged with Circle appeared much more likely to receive no further custodial sentences (81%) than those who did not engage (56%). Those who self-referred to the service were marginally less likely to receive further custodial sentences (8%) than those who did not (27%). With regard to client interviews, findings from these support the positive outcomes shown in the quantitative data. For example: All 42 clients interviewed would recommend Circle to others; Clients reported having been supported to make positive changes with regard to drug and alcohol misuse; Clients were also supported to resolve issues related to housing and debt; The ability of the Circle workers to help maintain and improve family relationships was highly valued by clients, as was the provision of practical support; The provision of emotional and practical support during the transition from custody to community was important to clients; Clients identified that the ability of Circle to be both gatekeeper and advocate in relation to other services was that which sets Circle apart from other agencies; In relation to their children, clients often felt deprived of information in their regard and treated with little respect by statutory services; The provision of timely and accurate information to clients was considered important, and the of Circle workers in facilitating this was greatly appreciated. Details: Glasgow: The Robertson Trust, 2011. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2012 at: http://www.therobertsontrust.org.uk/ Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.therobertsontrust.org.uk/ Shelf Number: 125539 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale OffendersFemale Prisoners (Scotland) |
Author: Fontaine, Jocelyn Title: Families and Reentry: Unpacking How Social Support Matters Summary: This study evaluated the family-inclusive case management component of the Chicago-based Safer Return program, which engages family members in service provision to former prisoners. Using qualitative and quantitative data, the research focused on the associations between family support and family members' and formerly incarcerated persons' short-term outcomes. The research found that family members have strong and positive relationships with their formerly incarcerated relatives. However, engaging families in the reentry process directly can be challenging because incarcerated persons are reticent to nominate family members and/or family members are unwilling or unable to participate in their family member's reentry program. Details: Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2012. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2012 at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001630-Families-and-Reentry-Unpacking-How-Social-Support-Matters.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001630-Families-and-Reentry-Unpacking-How-Social-Support-Matters.pdf Shelf Number: 125940 Keywords: Families of InmatesReentryReintegration, Offenders |
Author: Porter, Lauren Title: Reconsidering the Relationship between Paternal Incarceration and Delinquency Summary: Research finds that children who have experienced the incarceration of a parent exhibit higher levels of antisocial behavior. Yet there are reasons to question whether this association is in fact causal, and research that empirically pins down mechanisms that explain any observed association is in high demand. We attempt to better account for unobserved heterogeneity by using children with fathers who will be incarcerated as a strategic comparison group. In addition, we look at two different outcomes in an effort to make inferences about why paternal incarceration may influence delinquency. Results suggest that the association between paternal incarceration and instrumental forms of crime (e.g., theft) is entirely spurious, although paternal incarceration retains a significant effect on expressive crimes (e.g., destruction of property, fighting). Details: Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research, Bowling Green State University, 2012. 38p. Source: Working Paper Series WP-12-08: Internet Resource: Accessed October 7, 2012 at http://ncfmr.bgsu.edu/pdf/working_papers/file118357.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://ncfmr.bgsu.edu/pdf/working_papers/file118357.pdf Shelf Number: 126573 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFathersJuvenile Delinquency |
Author: Williams, Kim Title: Prisoners’ Childhood and Family Backgrounds: Results from the Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR) Longitudinal Cohort Study of Prisoners Summary: This report examines the childhood and family background of prisoners, their current family relationships, and associations between these characteristics and reoffending. It also estimates the number of children in England and Wales who experience parental imprisonment. It is based on Wave 1 of a longitudinal cohort study (Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR)). SPCR tracked the progress of newly sentenced prisoners in England and Wales. The report finds that many prisoners came from problematic backgrounds, and that prisoners with background experiences such as having been in care, been abused, or been excluded from school, were more likely to be reconvicted than those without. The report also finds that many prisoners have children and value their families now, and see the support of their families as important in stopping them from reoffending in the future. Based on prison data and SPCR data, the report estimates that approximately 200,000 children were affected over the course of 2009 by a parent being in, or going to, prison. Details: London: Ministry of Justice, 2012. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Ministry of Justice Research Series 4/12; Accessed November 24, 2012 at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/research-and-analysis/moj-research/prisoners-childhood-family-backgrounds.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/research-and-analysis/moj-research/prisoners-childhood-family-backgrounds.pdf Shelf Number: 126986 Keywords: Background, PrisonersFamiliesFamilies of InmatesFamily HistoriesLongitudinal Studies (U.K.)Parental InfluencePrisoners |
Author: Phillips, Susan D. Title: Video Visits for Children Whose Parents Are Incarcerated: In Whose Best Interest? Summary: Video Visits for Children Whose Parents Are Incarcerated: In Whose Best Interest? addresses the question of whether video visitation may also provide benefits for children who are separated from their parents by incarceration. Our conclusion is that it depends on the particular policies and practices of a given institution. Video visitation holds the most potential for benefiting children if: •It is used as an adjunct to, rather than a replacement for, other modes of communication, particularly contact visits; •Children can visit from their homes or nearby sites; •Facility policies allow for frequent visits; and •Fees are not cost prohibitive. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2012. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 24, 2013 at: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cc_Video_Visitation_White_Paper.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cc_Video_Visitation_White_Paper.pdf Shelf Number: 127390 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesVisitation |
Author: Gordon, Liz Title: A Study of the Children of Prisoners: Findings from Māori Data June 2011 Summary: This study reports on the Māori data collected as part of a research project on the children of prisoners carried out in 2009 and 2010, for Pillars, a community organisation that works with the families of prisoners. It begins with the voices of four tamariki who each have a parent in prison. They tell us about their lives, good and bad. The findings of this study – the first of its kind in Aotearoa New Zealand - shows where many of the problems lie and what kind of interventions may be successful. Community engagement, more effective health and education interventions and a justice system that is mindful of the needs of the children, can together go a long way towards reducing intergenerational imprisonment. Details: Wellington, NZ: Te Puni Kōkiri, 2011. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 22, 2013 at: http://thehub.superu.govt.nz/project/study-children-prisoners-findings-m%C4%81ori-data Year: 2011 Country: New Zealand URL: Shelf Number: 127698 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (New ZealandFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Schoeman, Marelize Title: The Influence of Imprisonment on Infants and Young Children Incarcerated with their Mothers Summary: Deprivation of liberty due to incarceration is a controversial and sensitive issue because of the impact it has on the perpetrators’ life as well as the lives of their family members. This controversy is the result of the conflict that exists between criminal law policy and the fundamental human rights of perpetrators of the law. Zermatten states that there are scarcely any situations where so many human rights are violated as during imprisonment. This becomes even more complicated and sensitive when pregnant women or mothers of infants and young children are incarcerated. Incarcerated mothers, in the absence of the necessary information regarding available placement options for their children, often feel compelled to keep their infants and young children with them in prison. Imprisoned women also quickly realise that they receive more privileges if their children remain with then during their incarceration. Opinions vary whether this is in the best interest of a young child. The most popular point of view is that imprisonment of a small dependant child with its mother has an adverse effect on the child’s survival, health, development as well as psychological and emotional well-being. According to research, this is mainly due to the negative environmental and social factors associated with a prison environment. In contrast with this opinion the importance of the formation of an emotional bond between a child and its primary caregiver, usually the mother, are emphasised. Findings from research indicate that a child could suffer devastating effects and emotional scaring if it is separated for an extended period of time during childhood from its caregiver. Limited research has been done in South Africa to explore the impact of a child’s imprisonment with its mother on such a child as well as the impact of forced separation between a mother and a child due to the mother’s incarceration. Details: South Africa: National Institute for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO), 2009. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 7, 2013 at: http://www.nicro.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Babies-behind-bars-summary.pdf Year: 2009 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.nicro.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Babies-behind-bars-summary.pdf Shelf Number: 127857 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (South Africa)Families of InmatesPregnant Inmates |
Author: McBridge, Rachel L. Title: Incarcerated Mothers in Cuenca, Ecuador: Perceptions of their environment and the impact it has on the lives of their young children and their education. Summary: The number of children whose mothers are incarcerated is increasing around the world. Educators of young children are faced with new challenges in their classrooms as they work with these children during their formative years for social-emotional development. The purpose of this qualitative study was to interview the mothers, in order to gain their perspective on how they feel their incarceration has affected their relationship with their children; how they believed it would affect their children in the future, and to investigate the perceptions of early childhood teachers who worked with children of incarcerated mothers. Using interviews, observations, journal, and field notes the researcher collected information from 3 incarcerated mothers, 3 of their children, and the 2 teachers who worked with these children. Overall findings were that the mother-child relationships are of extreme importance to the mothers. They have high hopes for a better life for their child, which includes concerns about their education. Mothers had fears that their incarceration would repeat itself in their children and desired for things to be different in their children's futures. They reported their incarceration affecting their children in negative ways. Their children had difficulty depicting their mothers in their drawings. Lastly, the teachers highly encouraged parental involvement, even though the mother was incarcerated. They expressed the importance of the mother-child relationship impacting the child's ability to learn, and teachers believed special training and preparation are necessary for working with these children. Details: Denton, TX: University of North Texas, 2008. 377p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed March 7, 2013 at: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6078/m1/1/?q=incarcerated mothers Year: 2008 Country: Ecuador URL: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6078/m1/1/?q=incarcerated mothers Shelf Number: 127867 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Ecuador)Families of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale Prisoners |
Author: Geller, Amanda Title: Paternal Incarceration and Father-Child Contact in Fragile Families Summary: High rates of incarceration in the United States have motivated a broad examination of the effects of parental incarceration on child wellbeing. Although a growing literature documents challenges facing the children of incarcerated men, most incarcerated fathers lived apart from their children before their arrest, raising questions of whether they were sufficiently involved with their families for their incarceration to affect their children. I use the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N=4,071) to examine father involvement among incarcerated fathers, and find that most incarcerated fathers maintained a degree of contact with their children, through either coresidence or visitation. Moreover, I find robust reductions in both father-child coresidence and visitation when fathers are incarcerated – between 18 and 20 percent for coresidence, and 30 to 50 percent for the probability of visitation. My findings suggest that these reductions are driven by both incapacitation while incarcerated and union dissolution upon release. Details: Princeton, NJ: Fragile Families Working Group, 2013. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed March 14, 2013 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP12-10-FF.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP12-10-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 127934 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S)Families of InmatesFather- Child Relations |
Author: Normandin, Heidi Title: Looking Beyond the Prison Gate: New Directions in Prisoner Reentry Summary: The iron law of incarceration is that nearly all prisoners come back—to their families and communities. In FY 2006, over 14,500 prisoners were released from Wisconsin prisons. This means that the population returned to society last year was similar in size to Bayfield County, the city of Menomonie, or the combined student bodies of UW-Stevens Point and UW-Green Bay. After being behind bars an average of 10 years, many prisoners have difficulty with the most basic requirements of life outside prison, such as finding a steady job, locating housing, and reestablishing positive relationships with family and friends. This report examines the latest evidence on how reentry policy can keep the public safe by better preparing prisoners for their inevitable return. The first chapter is written by Jeremy Travis, president of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. Sentencing policy in the United States has changed dramatically in the last 30 years. During this time, U.S. incarceration rates quadrupled (largely due to drug offenses) and corrections budgets have become the second fastest growing state expenditure. More offenders entering prison means that more prisoners will eventually leave and return to their families and communities. Yet returning prisoners face a number of challenges in their family relationships, work, health, and housing. Many have a low level of human capital; for example, the longest that half of them have held a job is two years. Two-thirds of released prisoners end up being rearrested for a new offense within three years, and one-quarter are returned to prison for a new conviction. To turn these numbers around, new policy directions include a) reinventing supervision by front-loading services to ex-prisoners during the first six months after their release, the time they are most likely to commit a new crime, and b) establishing reentry courts to provide appropriate sanctions and incentives for successful reintegration. The next chapter on designing reentry programs is written by Edward Latessa, professor and division head in the Division of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. Successful prisoner reentry programs have garnered public support because of their potential to reduce recidivism and save taxpayer dollars. To be effective, reentry programs must apply the four principles of effective corrections interventions. First, programs should be targeted to high-risk offenders. Placing low-risk offenders in intensive programs might actually increase their recidivism rates. Second, programs should focus on crime-producing factors such as antisocial attitudes and substance abuse. Boot camp programs are ineffective because they target factors unrelated to crime, model aggressive behavior, and bond criminals together. Third, programs should use a cognitive-behavioral approach, which has been shown to reduce reoffenses by an average of 10%. This actionoriented approach teaches prisoners new skills through modeling, practice, and reinforcement. Fourth, for model programs to be effective, implementation must closely replicate the original design; poorly implemented programs can do more harm than good. Given budget deficits, other states may follow Oregon’s lead in requiring all programs for offenders to be evidence-based. The third chapter by Christina Carmichael and Jere Bauer, Jr. of the Legislative Fiscal Bureau describes prisoner reentry programs in Wisconsin. The reentry process begins at the time of sentencing. For felony offenses, except those punishable by life imprisonment, felons receive a bifurcated sentence. The judge specifies the time to be spent in (a) prison and (b) the community on extended supervision. Reentry services assist prisoners in transitioning back into the community through programs provided to inmates in prison and to offenders under community supervision who need assistance with housing, job readiness, and access to services. As of July 2007, Wisconsin correctional institutions had 22,729 inmates, and community corrections served 55,879 offenders on probation and 17,084 on parole or extended supervision. Upon admission, an assessment identifies the offender’s individual needs for services such as cognitive intervention, education, employment training, medical care, and sex offender treatment. For example, almost half of adult inmates lack a high school diploma or GED and, when admitted, about two thirds have alcohol and drug abuse problems. The portion of inmate spending allocated to reentry programming is not available; however, $123.7 million is spent for probation, parole, and extended supervision in the community and $24.8 million to purchase community services for offenders. The Family Impact Seminars encourages policymakers to consider how families are affected by problems and whether policies would be more effective if families were part of the solution. This report details a number of ways that families are affected by prisoner reentry. In the U.S., two-thirds of female inmates and one-half of male inmates are parents. When one parent is incarcerated, the children left behind are at risk of unhealthy development. The remaining family members also face financial stress and strain from the separation. When prisoners return home, the family can be central to the reentry process. Of course, not all families are in a position to help or want to help. Yet in one study, 90% of former prisoners “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that their family had been supportive in the first few months after their release. Former prisoners who felt that their family was a source of support had more success finding a job and staying off drugs. In fact, continuing contact with family members during and following incarceration can reduce recidivism and foster reintegration. As critical as this support is, it often comes at a price for families, many of whom are fragile. For families to serve as a cornerstone of successful prisoner reentry, policies should take family needs into account. For example, policymakers could enact programs that strengthen families who, in turn, will support the returning prisoner. Policymakers could also examine the state’s statutes, policies, and practices that may interfere with successful prisoner reentry and disadvantage their families. Some of these are summarized in a table prepared by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Corrections agencies could improve visitation policies; make it easier to maintain phone, video, or Internet contact; and expand the definition of family to allow visitation by girlfriends or boyfriends who are sometimes raising the prisoner’s children. Schools, youth organizations, and agencies that serve families could take into account the special challenges families face when a parent or partner enters into or returns from prison. Details: Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2008. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: 26th Wisconsin Family Impact Seminar: Accessed March 18, 2013 at: http://www.familyimpactseminars.org/s_wifis26report.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.familyimpactseminars.org/s_wifis26report.pdf Shelf Number: 128004 Keywords: Ex-OffendersFamilies of InmatesPrisoner Reentry (U.S.) |
Author: Scharff-Smith, Peter Title: Children of Imprisoned Parents Summary: According to historians, prisons have existed as separate institutions in Europe for more than 400 years, and imprisonment has been a key sanction in the range of punishments of modern European states since the 19th century. Experts, policy makers and many others have discussed the effects of imprisonment for decades and even centuries, addressing issues such as the purpose of imprisonment as a punishment and its effects on recidivism, rehabilitation and prevention. These discussions have typically focused on the impact of imprisonment upon the individual prisoner and to a certain degree on the possible deterrent effect that incarcerating criminals can have upon the rest of society. However, it is of course inevitable that the use of imprisonment will also affect prisoners’ families and perhaps, most especially, their children. Yet, children of imprisoned parents have, up until the later decades of the 20th century, attracted scarce attention, either politically or as a topic for research. As recently as 2005, two prominent criminology editors of a volume on “The effects of imprisonment” concluded that the impact of imprisonment on the prisoner’s family was still one of the less studied fields within criminology, despite the obvious importance of this area. As a consequence, children of imprisoned parents as a specific group have been labelled the ‘forgotten victims’ of our system of punishment. This seems hard to understand given the extent of the problems many of these children face, the potentially long-term damage to their emotional and psychological development and the sheer scale of the problem: on any given day there are millions of children who experience parental imprisonment all over the world and an estimated 800,000 in the European Union alone. This figure is not only likely to be a conservative estimate but also only relates to children with a parent in prison. There are of course many, many more children who are affected by imprisonment of their siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunts and other family members with whom they have a close relationship. The effects of such imprisonment on those children will often be similar to those experienced by children whose parent goes to prison, and many of the rights and issues identified within this report still apply. Details: Copenhagen: Danish Institute for Human Rights; European Network for Chidlren of Imprisoned Parents, University of Ulster and Bambginisenzasbarre, 2011. 284p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 30, 2013 at: http://menneskeret.dk/files/pdf/Full%20report%20Children%20of%20Imprisoned%20parents.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Europe URL: http://menneskeret.dk/files/pdf/Full%20report%20Children%20of%20Imprisoned%20parents.pdf Shelf Number: 128171 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Europe)Families of Inmates |
Author: Robinson, Emma Title: A Fresh Perspective: Working with Offenders and Families - why it matters Summary: It is estimated that there are around 160,000 children with a parent in prison each year. 60% of these children affected by parental imprisonment are likely to offend themselves. Studies of prisoners’ children also suggest that there can be a number of adverse outcomes for children caused by parental imprisonment. However, support for children and families is lacking. Where support is available, this is often fragmented due to the conflicting aims of the services involved. Recent policy developments suggest a move towards providing better support and provision for families, with authorities being encouraged to ‘think family’. Publications such as the ‘Every Child Matters’, The ‘Children of Offenders Review’ and ‘Families do Matter’ stress the role of the family in supporting desistance from re-offending. This research was commisioned to identify exactly what work is being undertaken with families within the West Yorkshire districts and determine the effectiveness of this work. Details: Wakefield, UK: West Yorkshire Probation Service, 2010. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 5, 2013 at: http://www.westyorksprobation.org.uk/documentlist.php?type=1&year=2010 Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.westyorksprobation.org.uk/documentlist.php?type=1&year=2010 Shelf Number: 128270 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.K.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Ishizuka, Katie Title: Fostering Change: How Investing In D.C.’s Child Welfare System Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipeline Summary: Fostering Change: How Investing In D.C.’s Child Welfare System Can Keep Kids Out of the Prison Pipeline looks at the need for robust community investments to increase public safety and youth outcomes in areas such as Wards 5, 7 and 8, which are majority African American having also the highest rate of children living below the poverty line and in foster care. The District has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, which has direct and long-term implications on the city’s youth. Parental incarceration is now the third highest reason for child welfare system involvement in the District, following neglect and abuse. The community and family impacts of mass incarceration are disproportionately prevalent among African-American children and children of parents with low levels of educational attainment. Nationally, African-American children are three times more likely than Latino children and seven times more likely than white children to have a parent in prison and incarcerated parents tend to face significant barriers to retaining their parental rights. Fostering Change is the fourth and last in a series of research briefs that shows reducing harm to children in the home, strengthening families, and investing in systems that support children who are abused and neglected should be part of a comprehensive public safety strategy in the District. Details: Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, 2013. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2013 at: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/fostering_change.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/fostering_change.pdf Shelf Number: 128331 Keywords: Child Welfare SystemsChildren of PrisonersDelinquency PreventionFamilies of InmatesFoster Care (Washington, D.C.)Poverty |
Author: Turney, Kristin Title: The Intergenerational Consequences of Mass Incarceration: Implications for Children’s Contact with Grandparents Summary: In response to the rapid growth in mass incarceration, a burgeoning literature documents the mostly deleterious consequences of mass incarceration for individuals and families. But mass incarceration, which has profoundly altered the American kinship system, may also have implications for relationships that span across generations. In this paper, I use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine how paternal incarceration has altered one important aspect of intergenerational relationships, children’s contact with grandparents. Results from both ordinary least squares (OLS) and fixed-effects regression models show that incarceration decreases the frequency of children’s contact with paternal, but not maternal, grandparents. More than one-quarter of this negative relationship is explained by separation between parents that occurs after paternal incarceration, highlighting the “kinkeeping” role of mothers. Additionally, consequences are concentrated among children living with both parents prior to paternal incarceration and among children of previously incarcerated fathers. Taken together, results provide some of the first evidence that the collateral consequences of incarceration may extend to intergenerational relationships. Details: Princeton, NJ: Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, Princeton University, 2013. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper WP13-07-FF: Accessed May 23, 2013 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP13-07-FF.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP13-07-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 128787 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Turney, Kristin Title: Redefining Relationships: Explaining the Countervailing Consequences of Paternal Incarceration for Parenting Summary: In response to dramatic increases in imprisonment, a burgeoning literature considers the consequences of incarceration for family life, almost always documenting negative consequences. But the effects of incarceration may be more complicated and nuanced and, in this paper, we consider the countervailing consequences of paternal incarceration for a host of family relationships, including fathers’ parenting, mothers’ parenting, and the relationship between parents. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and a rigorous research design, we find recent paternal incarceration sharply diminishes parenting behaviors among residential fathers but not among nonresidential fathers. Virtually all of the association between incarceration and parenting among residential fathers can be explained by changes in fathers’ relationships with their children’s mothers. The consequences for mothers’ parenting, however, are inconsistent and weak. Furthermore, our findings show recent paternal incarceration sharply increases the probability a mother will repartner, potentially offsetting some losses in the involvement of the biological father while simultaneously leading to greater family complexity. Taken together, the collateral consequences of paternal incarceration for family life are complex and countervailing. Details: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, 2013. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed May 23, 2013 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP12-06-FF.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP12-06-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 128788 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Brown, Christian Title: Beyond Bars: Estimating the Economic Consequences of Parental Incarceration Summary: Many people incarcerated in the United States are parents, and this may have negative effects on the social and educational development of their children. I evaluate this hypothesis empirically using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data to estimate the effects of parental incarceration on a child's level of education and adult wages. Models of incarceration's effects control for parent and child gender, age at incarceration, incarceration frequency, and pre-incarceration household residency. The incarceration of parents, particularly mothers, is associated with lower levels of higher education and earnings. Daughters of incarcerated mothers face higher educational penalties than sons; sons face higher wage penalties than daughters. Details: Murfreesboro, TN: Middle Tennessee State University, 2013. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed May 23, 2013 at: http://capone.mtsu.edu/ccb3g/ch1.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://capone.mtsu.edu/ccb3g/ch1.pdf Shelf Number: 128789 Keywords: Children of PrisonersEducationEmploymentFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Walker, Sheri Pruitt Title: The Effects of the Incarceration of Fathers on the Health and Wellbeing of Mothers and Children Summary: The male incarceration rate has risen dramatically in the last several decades. Over half of incarcerated men are fathers of minor children. My dissertation focuses specifically on families and addresses various aspects of how mothers and children have been affected by the incarceration of fathers. This research uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWB), a national sample of mostly unwed parents and their children, to estimate the causal effect of the incarceration of fathers on various outcomes for mothers and children. However, since the female partners and children of incarcerated men differ along observable characteristics from other mothers and children in the FFCWB, they are also likely to differ in terms of unobservables, and thus ordinary least squares estimation is unlikely to provide an unbiased estimate of this causal effect. Instead, I employ propensity score matching methods to estimate this effects, exploiting the rich data availability in FFCWB. The first chapter introduces these topics and provides a brief discussion. The second chapter discusses the impact of a father‟s incarceration on the public assistance participation of mothers as measured by welfare and food stamp program participation. A large body of research has examined consequences of incarceration on incarcerated men, while little has analyzed the effect on women who share children with incarcerated men. My research aims to fill this gap. I find robust evidence that, among women with incarcerated partners, a partner‟s incarceration increases the probability that mothers receive both welfare and food stamp benefits. The third chapter considers the effect of father‟s incarceration on the health of mothers and the development of children. The outcome variables I analyze are mothers‟ physical health and mental health as measured by depression and anxiety, as well as child‟s cognitive development and social behavior. My findings indicate that, among children with incarcerated fathers, paternal incarceration adversely affects cognitive development and increases aggressive behavior in children at age five. I also find that, among mothers with incarcerated partners, having a partner that is recently incarcerated adversely affect mothers‟ mental health as measured by depression, but positively affects mothers‟ physical health. Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland at College Park, 2011. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 25, 2013 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/12188/1/PruittWalker_umd_0117E_12530.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/12188/1/PruittWalker_umd_0117E_12530.pdf Shelf Number: 128793 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Kukorowski, Drew Title: Please Deposit All of Your Money: Kickbacks, Rates, and Hidden Fees in the Jail Phone Industry Summary: At a time when the cost of a phone call is approaching zero, one population is forced to pay astronomical sums to stay in touch: the families of incarcerated people. For a child to speak with her incarcerated parent, a family member or friend is forced to pay almost $1 per minute, plus a long list of other fees that easily double the total cost of the call. Faced with phone bills that can total hundreds of dollars, many families have to choose between paying for calls and paying for basic living expenses. Social science research shows that strong community ties are one of the best predictors of success after release from prison or jail, but the prison telephone market threatens those ties because it is uniquely structured to create a counter-productive cycle of exploitation: prison systems and local jails award the monopoly contracts to the phone company that will charge the highest rates and share the largest portion of the profits. The prisons and jails get their commissions, the phone industry gets the fees, and the families get the hefty bills. While previous research has documented the unjustifiably high calling rates in the prison phone industry, this report is the first to address in depth the many fees prison phone customers must pay. We find that meaningful regulation of the prison phone industry must stem from a comprehensive analysis of the customers' whole bills, rather than limiting the discussion to addressing the high per-minute calling rates alone. This report finds that fees have an enormous impact on prison phone bills, making up 38% of the $1 billion annual price of calling home. This report details the fees that prison phone companies charge for "services" such as: •accepting customers' money (deposit fees of up to $10/deposit) •holding on to customers' money (monthly account fees as high as $12) •closing customers' accounts (refund fees of up to $10) This report reveals that these fees are but the tip of the iceberg, though, as many other charges are far less transparent. For example, some companies operate "single call programs" that charge customers who do not have preexisting accounts up to $14.99 to receive a single call from a prison or jail. Some companies have hidden profit-sharing agreements with payment processors such as Western Union, which are not disclosed to the correctional systems that award contracts. Other companies give their fees government-sounding names, even though the fees are not required by the government and may not even be paid to the government. Unlike in most industries, bad customer service is a key source of revenue for prison phone companies. For example, most of the industry finds it economically advantageous to use poorly calibrated security systems to drop phone calls and trigger additional connection charges. Other companies show no hesitation to triple the cost of a call made to a local cellphone by charging consumers the more expensive long distance rate. Previous research has generally focused on the price to call home from state and federal prisons, but we find that limiting the scope to prisons only significantly understates the sheer number of families that must bear the burden of exorbitant phone bills. This report expands the discussion to also include the families and friends of the more than 12 million people who cycle through 3,000 local jails across the country every year. To our knowledge, almost no local jails refuse commission payments in order to make calling home more feasible. Because the opportunities for consumer exploitation in this broken marketplace are almost endless, regulation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the only permanent, nationwide solution that would remove the inherent conflicts of interest between the facilities that award monopoly contracts, the companies that execute them, and the families that pay the price. The FCC should craft a regulatory solution that is based on a comprehensive view of the prison phone industry, taking into account each of the components that contribute to customers' high bills, including fees. Details: Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 2013. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 30, 2013: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/pleasedeposit.html Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/pleasedeposit.html Shelf Number: 128874 Keywords: Consumer FraudFamilies of InmatesJailsPrisoners (U.S.)Telephones |
Author: Kukoroski, Drew Title: The Price To Call Home: State-Sanctioned Monopolization In The Prison Phone Industry Summary: Exorbitant calling rates make the prison telephone industry one of the most lucrative businesses in the United States today. This industry is so profitable because prison phone companies have state-sanctioned monopolistic control over the state prison markets, and the government agency with authority to rein in these rates across the nation has been reluctant to offer meaningful relief. Prison phone companies are awarded these monopolies through bidding processes in which they submit contract proposals to the state prison systems; in all but eight states, these contracts include promises to pay “commissions” — in effect, kickbacks — to states, in either the form of a percentage of revenue, a fixed up-front payment, or a combination of the two. Thus, state prison systems have no incentive to select the telephone company that offers the lowest rates; rather, correctional departments have an incentive to reap the most profit by selecting the telephone company that provides the highest commission. This market oddity — that the government entity has an incentive to select the highest bidder and that the actual consumers have no input in the bidding process — makes the prison telephone market susceptible to prices that are well-above ordinary rates for non-incarcerated persons. This fact, coupled with what economists would label as the “relative inelastic demand” that incarcerated persons and their families have to speak with one another, leads to exorbitant prices. The prison telephone market is structured to be exploitative because it grants monopolies to producers, and because the consumers — the incarcerated persons and their families who are actually footing the bills — have no comparable alternative ways of communicating. Details: Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 2012. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 1, 2013 at: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/price_to_call_home.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/price_to_call_home.pdf Shelf Number: 128915 Keywords: Families of InmatesInmatesPrison Telephone IndustryPrisoners (U.S.) |
Author: Robertson, Oliver Title: Lightening the Load of the Parental Death Penalty on Children Summary: One of the little-asked questions in debates over the death penalty is what happens to the children of the offender. The arrest, sentencing and (potential) execution of a parent affect children greatly, but they receive little consideration and less support. Some of the impacts on children of parents sentenced to death or executed are similar to those experienced by children of prisoners more generally. These include how they experience the arrest and trial of a parent, some of the issues around visiting a parent in prison, and considerations about what they are told and when. Even in these cases, children of parents sentenced to death may experience the issues at greater intensity or with additional aspects that other children of prisoners do not face. But there are also areas where the nature of the death penalty itself, and the procedures accompanying it, mean the experiences of these children are categorically different from those of their peers. These include dealing with the execution itself, and learning to continue living after the execution in the knowledge that a parent has been killed by the State. This paper begins by providing some basic information about children of parents sentenced to death, issues that persist through the whole of a parent’s interaction with the criminal justice system. Next, it looks at issues that are similar to those faced by other children of prisoners, but focuses on the ways in which children of parents sentenced to death are different. For a more detailed account of the situation of children of prisoners worldwide, including recommendations and examples of good practice, read QUNO’s 2012 paper Collateral Convicts. Thirdly, the fundamentally different issues are considered, those only children of parents sentenced to death experience. There are a limited number of recommendations included throughout: these are not intended to be comprehensive, instead only covering those areas where there is already clarity about a positive way forward. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Quaker United Nations Office, 2013. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 18, 2013 at: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/2013LighteningLoad-English.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://www.quno.org/geneva/pdf/humanrights/women-in-prison/2013LighteningLoad-English.pdf Shelf Number: 129015 Keywords: Capital PunishmentChildren of PrisonersDeath PenaltyFamilies of Inmates |
Author: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Title: Children of Incarcerated Parents in New York State. A Data Analysis Summary: This report summarizes findings from a survey on children with incarcerated parents administered in December of 2010 to incarcerated individuals in the New York State prison system. The survey was developed in response to policy issues raised by a cross systems Subcommittee on Children with Incarcerated Parents. The Subcommittee was made up of New York State agency representatives from the corrections and human services fields as well as advocates and not for profit service providers who work with incarcerated individuals and their families. The survey was structured to gather information to inform policy discussion related to the following questions: How many incarcerated individuals have minor children? What type and amount of contact do incarcerated parents have with their children prior to and during their incarceration? What factors influence parents’ ability to maintain contact with children? What are the living arrangements of children prior to and following parents’ incarceration? What type of activities do incarcerated parents use to maintain a role in the care and planning for their children in foster care? To what extent have children with incarcerated parents witnessed the arrest of their parent? What percent of incarcerated parents plan to reunify with their children? What factors do incarcerated parents identify as barriers to their reunification with their children? Details: Albany: NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2013. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 25, 2013 at: http://www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us/pio/2013-children-with-inarcerated-parents-report.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us/pio/2013-children-with-inarcerated-parents-report.pdf Shelf Number: 129148 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (New York State, U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Perry, Victoria Title: Maintaining the Link: A Survey of Visitors to New South Wales Correctional Centres Summary: Maintaining family ties during imprisonment has been found to serve important functions for inmates, their family members, correctional centre administration, and the community as a whole. Corrective Services NSW recognizes the importance of visits between inmates and their families, and provides contact visiting facilities at each correctional centre in order to assist inmates to maintain family relationships. During April 2011, visitors to all correctional centres in NSW were given the opportunity to respond to a 4-page survey. This report presents an analysis of the visitor surveys. Details: Sydney: New South Wales Dept. of Corrective Services, Corporate Research, Evaluation and Statistics 2012. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Publication No. 51: Accessed July 1, 2013 at: https://correctiveservices.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/411012/research-publication-maintaining-thelink-a-survey-of-visitors-NSWCC.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: https://correctiveservices.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/411012/research-publication-maintaining-thelink-a-survey-of-visitors-NSWCC.pdf Shelf Number: 129232 Keywords: Families of InmatesPrison VisitorsVisitation (Australia) |
Author: Herman-Stahl, Mindy Title: Incarceration and the Family: A Review of Research and Promising Approaches for Serving Fathers and Families Summary: ▪ The number of individuals involved in the criminal justice system is at a historic high. There are almost 2.3 million individuals in U.S. jails and prisons and more than 798,000 people on parole. It is estimated that 7,476,500 children have a parent who is in prison, in jail or under correctional supervision. ▪ Minority children are disproportionately affected by father imprisonment: In state prisons, 42% of fathers are African American, and African American children are seven and a half times more likely to have a parent in prison than white children (6.7% vs. 0.9%). ▪ Only 23% of state prisoners are married, but many are involved in intimate or co-parenting relationships. ▪ Father incarceration negatively affects family life. Spouses/partners face serious financial strains, social isolation and stigma, loneliness, and negative emotions such as anger and resentment. ▪ Children of incarcerated fathers also may experience numerous life stressors, including caregiver changes, increased poverty, and involvement with the child welfare system, in addition to the pain of parental separation. These stressors have been linked to increased rates of anxiety, depression, learning problems, and aggression. ▪ Fathers in prison face a host of problems that limit their ability to be successful at reentry including substance abuse, mental illness, low educational attainment, and poor employment histories. ▪ Most men plan to live with their families upon release, and those who report positive family and parenting relationships during reentry are less likely to recidivate. Family support services during incarceration and after release are an important strategy for increasing criminal desistance, yet family strengthening services are often a neglected aspect of rehabilitation. ▪ Marriage and relationship enhancement interventions in prison show promise in reducing negative interactions and in improving communication skills and relationship satisfaction. ▪ Findings from evaluations of parenting programs in prison also are encouraging: inmates involved in such programs indicate improved attitudes about the importance of fatherhood, increased parenting skills, and more frequent contact with their children. ▪ To be successful, family strengthening services for prisoners require coordination between criminal justice and human service agencies, which often have divergent goals and contrasting perspectives. Success is also tied to effective linkages between prisons and community partners. ▪ Obstacles to family strengthening efforts during incarceration and re-entry include distance between place of imprisonment and reentry community, difficulties in recruiting and retaining prisoners, inhospitable visiting rules, unsupportive extended family relations, and barriers to partner and child involvement such as transportation difficulties, busy schedules, and relationship strain. ▪ The evidence for marital partner education and parenting programs is just beginning to accumulate. This evidence is hampered by a lack of rigorous evaluation methods. Studies have rarely employed randomized controlled trials, which are the gold standard for program evaluation. Program assessments also have had limited follow-ups to assess the maintenance of behavioral change and frequently rely on non-standardized measures and self-reports to document change. ▪ Effective social policies are critical for reducing recidivism and decreasing the negative effects of incarceration on children and families. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families/Office of Family Assistance, 2008. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2013 at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/mfs-ip/incarceration&family/report.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/mfs-ip/incarceration&family/report.pdf Shelf Number: 111762 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFathers |
Author: Meyerson, Jessica Title: Childhood Disrupted: Understanding the Features and Effects of Maternal Incarceration Summary: Between 1991 and midyear 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported the number of mothers in federal and state prisoners had increased a staggering 122 percent. During the same period, the number of children with mothers in prison had more than doubled, rising to almost 150,000 children nationwide. (BJS, 2008) Unfortunately, when women with children are incarcerated, their arrests and imprisonment often have a profound, negative impact on their families. Most children of incarcerated parents are at risk of poverty, instability and problem behaviors; but children with incarcerated mothers are especially vulnerable. Mothers in prison are more likely than fathers to enter incarceration with an identified mental illness. They are more likely to be drug users, to live in poverty and to be victims of physical or sexual abuse. (Travis and Waul, 2003) These factors substantially increase the chances that their children will experience their own emotional and psychological difficulties. (Ingram and Price, 2000; U.S. Surgeon General, 1999) Children whose mothers are incarcerated are also more likely to witness their parents’ arrests and to experience significant trauma and household disruption as a result of those arrests. When a father goes to prison, his children usually remain in the care of their mother; but when a mother is incarcerated, her children are likely to be transferred to the care of a non-parental caregiver. Most often this caregiver is a grandparent or relative, but, in about 11 percent of cases, children of incarcerated mothers are placed in the foster care system—separating them, in many cases, not just from their parents, but also their siblings, other family members and the only homes and communities they have ever known. (BJS, 2008; Mumola, 2000; Travis and Waul, 2003) Despite the explosive growth in the number of mothers who are in prison—and the potentially devastating effects of this incarceration on future generations—there are, at present, only a handful of prisoner reentry programs in the U.S. that are specifically designed to support incarcerated mothers and their families. The purpose of the Look Up and Hope initiative is to address this critical gap in services. Five pilot sites with a strong history of service to incarcerated women and their families—Volunteers of America Dakotas, Volunteers of America Illinois, Volunteers of America Indiana, Volunteers of America Northern New England and Volunteers of America Texas—are currently involved in designing and implementing the initiative. With support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Volunteers of America National Office and a variety of federal, state, and local grants, these sites are attempting to provide comprehensive, coordinated, longterm services for incarcerated mothers, their children and their children’s caregivers. Some of the supportive services currently being offered to LUH participants include substance abuse and mental health counseling, vocational training and employment services, rapid re-housing assistance, parenting classes, individual and family therapy, case management services (including home visits from trained clinical social workers), family group conferencing, after school and summer programming for youth and concrete supports (such as assistance with food, clothing and transportation). In designing and implementing the Look Up and Hope initiative, Volunteers of America has partnered with Wilder Research, an independent nonprofit research group in St. Paul, Minn. that specializes in applied social science research. Wilder’s chief role in the initiative has been assisting Volunteers of America in ensuring that their approach to addressing maternal incarceration is strongly research-based and builds on the best available evidence-based practices. In late 2009, Wilder’s research staff collaborated with the field staff of the five pilot LUH sites to carry out one of the nation’s first multiple site, qualitative studies of the strengths and needs of families affected by maternal incarceration. The purpose of this study was to (1) better understand the needs of the specific families being served at the five Look Up and Hope sites, (2) assess the extent to which their needs match those described in the extant literature on families affected by maternal incarceration and (3) recommend any modifications to the LUH program model that might be necessary based on the study results. Wilder’s findings are the focus of this report. Details: Alexandria, VA: Volunteers of America, 2010. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 20, 2013 at: http://www.voa.org/Childhood-Disrupted-Report Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.voa.org/Childhood-Disrupted-Report Shelf Number: 129473 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of InmatesFemale InmatesPrisoner Reentry |
Author: Lindquist, Christine Title: Strategies for Building Healthy Relationship Skills Among Couples Affected by Incarceration Summary: Very little programming has focused on strengthening families affected by incarceration, despite the importance of familial ties for incarcerated persons and the many challenges to maintaining family relationships during incarceration and reentry. Strong partnerships and parenting relationships are linked to reentry success, including decreased recidivism, among justice-involved men (Bersani, Laub, & Nieuwbeerta, 2009; Visher, Knight, Chalfin, & Roman, 2009). Yet little attention is given to the need for learning skills that can strengthen marriages and other intimate relationships. Incarceration offers an opportunity for confined individuals and their partners to learn relationship skills that may allow them to better communicate, resolve conflicts, and increase their commitment to one another. These skills could play an important role in maintaining healthy relationships throughout incarceration and during the challenging reentry process. The Responsible Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Reentering Fathers and Their Partners (MFS-IP) were designed to support healthy relationships, parenting, and economic stability for families affected by incarceration. Under the MFS-IP initiative, 12 organizations were funded from fiscal years 2006 through 2011 to provide services that promote or sustain healthy relationships and strengthen families in which one parent was incarcerated or otherwise involved with the criminal justice system (e.g., recently released from incarceration or on parole or probation). Grantees were required to deliver services to support healthy marriage and could also choose to provide services intended to improve parenting and build economic stability. This brief describes implementation findings from the evaluation of Responsible Fatherhood, Marriage and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Reentering Fathers and Their Partners (MFS-IP). It documents approaches to teaching relationship skills among incarcerated and reentering fathers and their families. Details: Washington, DC: Administration for Children and Families/Office of Family Assistance, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Washington, DC, 2012. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: ASPE Research Brief: Accessed August 7, 2013 at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/mfs-ip/RelationshipSkills/rb.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/mfs-ip/RelationshipSkills/rb.pdf Shelf Number: 129565 Keywords: Children of PrisonsFamilies of InmatesParenting Skills (U.S.)Prisoner Reentry |
Author: McKay Title: Parenting from Prison: Innovative Programs to Support Incarcerated and Reentering Fathers Summary: This brief describes efforts of the national MFS-IP initiative to build collaborations between the criminal justice system and human service agencies to provide family support services to incarcerated fathers, their children, and their co-parents. These grants fund efforts to strengthen father-child bonds through parenting, co-parenting, and relationship-building classes; child-friendly visitation; communication support; and auxiliary services. Eleven of the 12 MFS-IP grants provide parenting as well as couple support. Grantees combine established approaches to parenting skills training with innovative efforts to improve relationships between co-parents and increase father-child contact during incarceration. Recognizing the importance of material stability for successful parenting, many programs also work to address their participants’ vocational, financial, and housing needs through education, case management, and job placement assistance. Participation in all programs is voluntary. Furthermore, in the interest of protecting children and preventing domestic violence, many programs impose exclusion criteria that limit the participation of fathers convicted of sex offenses or child abuse, or of those subject to protective orders prohibiting contact with their co-parents or children. We draw on data from a national implementation evaluation of these grantees, including site visits and interviews with key stakeholders from the MFS-IP programs during Years 1 to 3 of program delivery. We also present preliminary, descriptive data from baseline interviews with incarcerated fathers and co-parents involved in a multisite, longitudinal impact study. While programs funded under this mechanism will continue serving families through September 2011, this brief describes their efforts through Year 3 of the grant period (ending September 2009). Details: Washington, DC: Administration for Children and Families/Office of Family Assistance, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010. Source: Internet Resource: ASPE Research Brief: Accessed August 7, 2013 at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/mfs-ip/Innovative/rb.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/08/mfs-ip/Innovative/rb.pdf Shelf Number: 129570 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesParenting Skills (U.S.)Prisoner Reentry |
Author: Raeder, Lyrna Title: Pregnancy- and Child-Related Legal and Policy Issues Concerning Justice-Involved Women Summary: The potential for legal liability looms large for correctional administrators in prison, jail, probation, and parole settings. Although "litigation is always a possibility regardless of its ultimate likelihood of success, positive outcomes are more likely when legal issues have been anticipated and administrators can articulate appropriate reasons for the policy, practice or conduct in question." As the number of women under some form of correctional custody increases, administrators are tasked with establishing policies and practices around myriad issues that are unique to or occur with greater frequency with women in the correctional system. In 2003, the National Institute of Corrections published Gender Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders as the result of a multiyear project aimed at creating a foundation for administrators and practitioners to manage justice-involved women effectively. That document's appendix provided a legal overview of issues that affect women offenders, such as equal protection and access to facilities, programs, and services; staffing and supervision; sexual misconduct; due process challenges; and pregnancy- and child-related questions. This document-the first of a two-part series on legal issues affecting corrections with regard to justice-involved women-builds upon that appendix. It specifically focuses on reproductive health issues; pregnancy management, particularly with regard to obstetrics and gynecological health issues; pregnancy-related security considerations; visitation; the effect of parental incarceration on both the incarcerated mother and child; and how these issues must inform reentry planning. While many of these issues affect a small percentage of the overall corrections population, they may contribute to an increased outlay of resources, particularly with regard to reproductive, obstetrical, and gynecological issues. As with most correctional challenges, there is no one "right" way to deal with these types of issues. Because of changes in established practices and needed resources, corrections officials tasked with developing strategies to address these issues should collect data and analyze research from various sources and may look to case law and legal decisions for additional guidance. This document aims to assist administrators in developing policies and practices to address the issues common in female offender populations by providing the legal framework in which authorities made decisions and the contextual information around those decisions. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, 2013. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: NIC Accession No. 027701: Accessed January 27, 2014 at: http://static.nicic.gov/Library/027701.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://static.nicic.gov/Library/027701.pdf Shelf Number: 131806 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale OffendersPregnant Inmates |
Author: Flower, Shawn M. Title: Community Mediation Maryland: Reentry Mediation Recidivism Analysis Summary: The CMM Reentry Mediation model responds to a need identified through research and through the experiences of staff and volunteers who have worked in prisons and with people returning from prison, or have family members incarcerated and experience the reentry process first-hand. Reentry Mediation supports inmates and their families or other support people to discuss their past experiences, to build understanding, and to jointly plan for reentry into the family structure and community before the inmate is released. The Abell Foundation in Baltimore City Maryland funded this analysis of the effect of prisoner reentry mediation on recidivism. This study examines 123 individuals who received mediation (the treatment group) to 497 that requested and were eligible to participate, but did not receive mediation (the comparison group) between February 2009 and June 2012. These groups are compared to discover whether there were significant differences between the groups. The method of analysis used to assess post-release outcomes is logistic regression, which provides a predicted probability of the outcomes (measured by arrest, conviction and incarceration) and is calculated based on all of the factors in the regression model. Cox Regression survival analysis was also used to compare the treatment and comparison groups in their time to failure (defined here as a post-release arrest or conviction). The survival analysis seeks to determine whether those who did not mediate "failed" (e.g., were rearrested) sooner than those who did mediate. Key findings of this study are as follows: - Demographic and criminal history differences between the treatment group and comparison group are few; those who participated in mediation are generally of the same age and gender, have similar criminal backgrounds based on both self-reported data at intake (e.g., age at first involvement in crime) and State of Maryland Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) data; while this does not obviate concerns surrounding selection bias, the similarities between the treatment and comparison group build a strong case of comparability between the two groups; - There were differences among the treatment and comparison groups on several questions concerning quality of the relationship with the person the inmate participant wishes to mediate with (referred to as the "outside participant"). Those who mediated were more likely to view the outside participant as playing a more positive role in their life, expressed a higher degree of happiness with this person, and said they confided in each other more often than those who did not mediate. However, these factors were not significant on any measures of recidivism; - One question was predictive of both participating in mediation and arrest post-release was "I feel I have no control over this relationship".Participants are asked their level of agreement with this statement on a scale of 1 to 5 (set up so that higher values indicating a more positive response) or a greater level of empowerment in their relationship with the other participant. Inside participants who felt they had greater control in the relationship were significantly more likely to go to mediation and were also more likely to be arrested post-release. Comparisons by race and gender on this measure indicate non-whites reporting higher degree of control compared to white subjects; there were no differences by gender. While we theorize this question measures positive feelings of empowerment in a relationship, perhaps this measures some another attribute (e.g., overconfidence) that may operate differentially for those who mediate versus those who do not. - Participation in reentry mediation has a significant impact on the likelihood that an individual will be arrested post-release. After controlling for key factors that may otherwise explain this finding (e.g., length of criminal career, gender, age, race, days since release), the predicted probability1 of arrest for those who participate in mediation is 21% vs. 31% for those who do not participate in mediation; - The number of sessions is also a significant factor - with each additional mediation session, the probability of arrest is reduced by 6%; - There was no impact of mediation on post-release conviction or incarceration once crucial factors were controlled in the model, which may be related to the small sample size and the low rates of conviction overall during the time period examined; and - The Cox Regression survival analysis reveals that mediation reduces the hazard (or risk of arrest) by 37% compared to those who do not mediate. Each additional mediation session reduces the risk of arrest by 23% compared to those who did not mediate. The key to understanding the saliency of these findings is that the greatest limitation of mediation may also be its greatest strength - it is a short-term "intervention". In fact, the majority of the 123 mediation participants had but one 2 hour session. The impact of mediation is believed to be indirect and akin to a critical course correction to turn an individual away from a criminal trajectory through the improved relationship with family and support persons and adherence to agreements and plans negotiated during mediation. Details: Greenbelt: MD: Choice Research Associates, 2013. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 6, 2014 at: http://re-entrymediation.org/PDFS/CMM_Recidvism_Final_04_18_2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://re-entrymediation.org/PDFS/CMM_Recidvism_Final_04_18_2013.pdf Shelf Number: 132254 Keywords: Community MediationFamilies of InmatesFamily InterventionsFamily MediationPrisoner ReentryRecidivism |
Author: Field-Pimm, Melanie Title: Parenting Status of Community Correctional Clients: Informing Service Planning Summary: No single agency or government department routinely collects data about the parental status of offenders or the characteristics or needs of offenders' families and children. This lack of hard data is partly responsible for difficulties in planning and targeting of services. More broadly, the lack of data prevents rational discussion of this issue. As a result, the population of parents, children and families is 'unmonitored, under-researched and unsupported by the statutory sector' (Murray, 2007:55). In response, this paper recommends a planned approach for informed service delivery aimed at improving the family circumstances of offenders who are also parents in Victoria. The data collected in this project represents a first step towards this planning. The Victorian Correctional System itself already has a number of responses in place for offenders who are parents. These include the Springhill Unit in Marngoneet Correctional Centre (designed to provide a targeted parenting program for fathers), the Mother & Baby Units in the Women's Prisons, and The Family Support Service at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. Community based organisations offer a myriad of individual services. However these are i) ad hoc and ii) connected to correctional centres rather than the community correctional system. Partly as a result of recent legislative changes to the application of Parole in Victoria coming into effect as of September 2013, the number of parole breaches has increased. It is anticipated that this will significantly impact on families, particularly when the offender is a parent and is moving through or back to a period of incarceration due to the breach. Details: Melbourne: Victorian Association for the Care & Resettlement of Offenders, 2014. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 17, 2014 at: http://www.vacro.org.au/Portals/0/PDF/Research/Publications/Parenting%20Status%20of%20Community%20Correctional%20Clients.2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Australia URL: http://www.vacro.org.au/Portals/0/PDF/Research/Publications/Parenting%20Status%20of%20Community%20Correctional%20Clients.2014.pdf Shelf Number: 132380 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Australia)Community CorrectionsFamilies of InmatesParolees |
Author: Haskins, Anna R. Title: Mass Imprisonment and the Intergenerational Transmission of Disadvantage: Paternal Incarceration and Children's Cognitive Skill Development Summary: As a growing number of American school-aged children have incarcerated or formerly incarcerated parents, it has become increasingly important to understand the intergenerational effects of mass imprisonment. I use the Fragile Families Study and its rich paternal incarceration data to assess whether having an incarcerated father impacts children's cognitive skill development by middle childhood. Matching models and sensitivity analyses demonstrate that experiencing paternal incarceration by age 9 is associated with lower cognitive skills and these negative effects hold when controlling for pre-paternal incarceration measures of child cognitive ability. Moreover, I estimate that paternal incarceration explains between 2 and 15 percent of the Black-White achievement gap at age 9. These findings illustrate how mass imprisonment contributes to the persistence of educational disparities, suggesting paternal incarceration as a pathway for the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage from parent to child. Details: Princeton, NJ: Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton, University, 2013. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Fragile Families Working Paper: WP13-15-FF: Accessed June 19, 2014 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP13-15-FF.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP13-15-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 132530 Keywords: Children of PrisonersEducationFamilies of InmatesRacial Disparities |
Author: Turney, Kristin Title: Detrimental for Some? The Heterogeneous Effects of Maternal Incarceration on Child Wellbeing Summary: We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,197) to consider the average and heterogeneous effects of maternal incarceration on nine-year-old children's internalizing problem behaviors, externalizing problem behaviors, PPVT scores, and early juvenile delinquency. We find that maternal incarceration has no average effect on measures of child wellbeing, consistent with previous research, but that effects are highly heterogeneous by the propensity to experience maternal incarceration. For children whose mothers are least likely to experience incarceration, the effects of maternal incarceration are pronounced, corresponding to between two-fifths and three-fifths of a standard deviation difference from their counterparts without incarcerated mothers. These findings suggest that the consequences of maternal incarceration vary substantially across social contexts. Details: Princeton, NJ: Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, Princeton University,, 2014. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 3, 2014 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP14-02-FF.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP14-02-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 132618 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale PrisonersJuvenile DelinquencyMothering |
Author: Shlafer, Rebecca J. Title: Children with Incarcerated Parents - Considering Children's Outcomes in the Context of Complex Family Experiences Summary: This issue examines the needs of children with incarcerated parents. These children are often overlooked in our schools, clinics, and social service settings. As noted in many ways throughout the article, this is not a homogeneous group - the experiences of these children are varied and changing. Responding to their needs will require attention to their unique life circumstances. The contributing authors reflect expertise with a variety of populations, settings and cultures. They represent some of the many people working in creative, collaborative ways to better understand and serve children of incarcerated parents. One timely example of this type of work is Little Children Big Challenges: Incarceration, Sesame Workshop's new bilingual, multimedia initiative that provides resources to support and comfort young children and their families who are experiencing parental incarceration. Details: St. Paul, MN: Children, Youth & Family Consortium, University of Minnesota, 2013. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 9, 2014 at: http://www.extension.umn.edu/family/cyfc/our-programs/ereview/docs/June2013ereview.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.extension.umn.edu/family/cyfc/our-programs/ereview/docs/June2013ereview.pdf Shelf Number: 133951 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (U.S.)Families of Inmates |
Author: Epstein, Rona Title: Mothers in Prison: The sentencing of mothers and the rights of the child Summary: Of the women in prison 66 per cent are mothers of dependent children. Imprisonment of a father or mother entails the forcible separation of a child from its parents and therefore impacts on the child's rights under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Thus sentencing courts are required to obtain information on dependent children and then conduct a balancing exercise weighing the rights of potentially affected children against the seriousness of the parent's offence. Do the courts always obtain information about the affected children, and are the rights of the child in fact considered by the criminal courts? This is a matter of significance for the welfare of children and for our system of justice. I have undertaken research to explore to what extent, if at all, the required balancing exercise is being carried out in the English criminal courts. The research covered 75 cases of the imposition of custody (suspended and immediate) on mothers who care for a dependent child. My research found that, in general, the rights of the child were not considered when their mothers were sent to prison. I argue that this is a flaw in our legal process, which should be rectified on social, legal and moral grounds. Details: London: The Howard League, 2014. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Howard League What is Justice? Working Papers 3/2014: Accessed October 13, 2014 at: http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services-client-groups/adult-offenders/howardleagueforpenalreform/162422HLWP_3_2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://socialwelfare.bl.uk/subject-areas/services-client-groups/adult-offenders/howardleagueforpenalreform/162422HLWP_3_2014.pdf Shelf Number: 133885 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale Offenders (U.K.)Female Prisoners |
Author: Saavedra, Enrique Title: Invisible no more: Children of Incarcerated parents in Latin America and the Caribbean. Case study from Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Uruguay Summary: Over the past two decades, the number of people incarcerated in Latin America has skyrocketed, with more than 1.2 million prisoners overcrowding correctional facilities across the region. Accompanying this, we estimate that the number of children with an incarcerated parent in the region is currently around 1,5 to 1,9 million (see Appendix A for more details). This marginalized and vulnerable group of young people has been neglected by, and remained virtually "invisible" to public policies, programs and civil society. In order to assess the situation and needs of these children, and following the recommendations made by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child during its Day of General Debate in 2011, CWS, with the technical leadership of Uruguayan NGO Gurises partnered with organizations in Brazil, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua to conduct the first regional study of children with incarcerated parents. The participating organizations surveyed 193 children with an incarcerated parent (or adult referent), and 50 of these children and 46 of their caregivers or guardians were interviewed. 23 government officials and regional experts working in child protection were also surveyed. The results of this study demonstrate the profound impact that the incarceration of a parent has on the life of a child. Families face increased financial strains which force many children to work outside the home or assume adult roles in their household. Children undergo emotional changes, becoming sad, withdrawn or sick, and they face social stigmatization and discrimination in their communities. Their experience with police and the justice system typically creates a negative perception of these authorities, and these elements combine to alter the development of childrens' self-identity, leading some to develop identities based on resistance to existing social structures. Research confirms that maintaining the child-parent relationship during the incarceration is one of the best ways to help children cope with such difficulties. However, it is difficult for families to maintain such relationships when their only face-to-face interaction is through prison visits, where children must endure unhealthy prison conditions, invasive body searches, and mistreatment from prison guards. Government officials and experts working in the area acknowledge the vulnerability of this group of children, and provide important insight into their situation. They describe the justice and penal systems as "adult-centric," looking at matters only from the perspective of the adults involved. In fact, no country in the region even systematically documents or registers the number of children of prisoners. Without any idea of the scope of the problem, it is nearly impossible to create policies and programs to address it. Likewise, the judicial system does not account for the best interests of related children when it decides appropriate punishment for those convicted of crimes. While the legal rights and responsibilities of fathers and mothers are identical, some experts prioritize the issue of incarcerated mothers, particularly those whose children live with them in prison. It appears that the incarceration of a mother has a more dramatic impact on family dynamics and significantly increases vulnerability of children. Whether it is the mother or father that is convicted of a crime, the use of alternative punishments (eg. open and semi-open prisons) would lessen the negative impact on children. Likewise, improved coordination between state actors involved in the justice system and child protection would improve services and support to children of incarcerated parents. It is clear that governments are the main responsible of protecting the rights of all children, and that they should, in coordination with civil society, begin to develop policies, programs and initiatives that support and empower children of incarcerated parents. Details: Buenos Aires: CWS Regional Office Latin America and Caribbean and Gurises Unidos, 2013. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 26, 2014 at: http://www.cwslac.org/en/docs/Invisible_no_more.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.cwslac.org/en/docs/Invisible_no_more.pdf Shelf Number: 134264 Keywords: Child ProtectionChild WelfareChildren of Prisoners (Latin America)Families of Inmates |
Author: Saunders, Vicky Title: Children of Prisoners: Exploring the needs of children and young people who have a parent incarcerated in the Australian Capital Territory Summary: Until recently, the parenting status of Australian prisoners has been poorly considered. However, Australian and international criminological policy and research is now focusing on the role that families play in the well-being, re-offending and rehabilitation of prisoners. This growing body of research has considered family connectedness from a variety of perspectives and there is emerging evidence of its impact on a range of social, health, mental wellbeing and criminological outcomes for prisoners (Travis, McBride, et al 2003; Stanley, & Byrne, 2000; Robertson, 2007). There is also a growing interest in the reciprocal impacts of imprisonment on families, and particularly on children. This has contributed to the recognition that prisoners need to be seen in the context of their family and parenting identities if a range of preventative, restorative and rehabilitative imperatives are to be fully achieved for them and for their children. This research study commissioned by SHINE for Kids and funded by the ACT Health Directorate aims to fill an important gap in knowledge about how prisoners are constructed as parents, and the impacts of incarceration upon prisoners' families in contemporary Australian society, by exploring and highlighting children's voices. The research centres on hearing and understanding the experiences of children who have or have had an incarcerated parent. The research study aimed to: - Deepen the understanding of the lives of children of prisoners by exploring their experiences of parental incarceration and the impact this has on them; - Identify appropriate individual, family and community supports and interventions informed by the children themselves in the context of multiple system involvement (e.g. child protection, criminal justice, health); and, - Inform the development of more integrated policy and practice responses to families who experience multiple and complex issues. Details: Canberra: SHINE for Kids, 2013. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 5, 2015 at: https://www.acu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/593477/Final_Report_Children_of_Prisoners_Oct2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: https://www.acu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/593477/Final_Report_Children_of_Prisoners_Oct2013.pdf Shelf Number: 131746 Keywords: Children of Prisoners (Australia)Families of Inmates |
Author: Rabuy, Bernadette Title: Screening Out Family Time: The for-profit video visitation industry in prisons and jails Summary: Video technology like Skype or FaceTime can be a great way to stay together for people who are far apart. It is not the same as being there in person, but it is better than a phone call or sending a letter. Given that there are 2.2 million people who are incarcerated, often many hundreds of miles from their homes, it should be no surprise that prison and jail video visitation is quietly sweeping the nation. But video visitation is not like Skype or FaceTime. For one, these well-known technologies are a high-quality, free supplement to time spent together, in-person. The video visitation that is sweeping through U.S. jails is almost the exact opposite. In order to stimulate demand for their low-quality product, jails and video visitation companies work together to shut down the traditional in-person visitation rooms and instead require families to pay up to $1.50 per minute for visits via computer screen. In this report, we collect the contracts and the experiences of the facilities, the families, and the companies. We: -Determine how this industry works, and explain the key differences between video visitation in jails (where it is most common and most commonly implemented in explicitly exploitative ways) and video visitation in prisons (where there is a proven need for the service and where prices are more reasonable yet the service is actually pretty rare). -Hold the industry's fantastic promises up against the hard evidence of experience, including the industry's own commission reports. -Give hard data showing just how unpopular this service is. We analyze the usage data, and then walk through exactly why families consider this unreliable and poorly designed technology a serious step backwards. -Identify the patterns behind the worst practices in this industry, finding that the most harmful practices are concentrated in facilities that contract with particular companies. -Analyze why the authors of correctional best practices have already condemned the industry's preferred approach to video visitation. -Review the unanimous opposition of major editorial boards to business models that try to profit off the backs of poor families, when we should be rewarding families for trying to stay together. -Identify how video visitation could be implemented in a more family-friendly way and highlight two small companies who have taken some of these steps. Finally, we make 23 recommendations for federal and state regulators, legislators, correctional facilities, and the video visitation companies on how they could ensure that video visitation brings families together and makes our communities stronger instead of weaker. Details: Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 2015. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2015 at: http://static.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/ScreeningOutFamilyTime_January2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://static.prisonpolicy.org/visitation/ScreeningOutFamilyTime_January2015.pdf Shelf Number: 134559 Keywords: Families of InmatesPrison VisitsPrivatizationVideo VisitationVisitation |
Author: Hollihan, Allison Title: Video Visiting in Corrections: Benefits, Limitations, and Implementing Considerations Summary: "The purpose of this guide is to inform the development of video visiting programs within a correctional setting. "Video visiting" is real-time interactive video communication which uses video conferencing technology or virtual software programs, such as Skype. It is an increasingly popular form of communication between separated family members in settings outside of corrections. The rapid expansion of video visiting in jails and prisons over the past few years suggests that video visiting may become very common in corrections in the near future. "This guide will help inform administrators about the benefits and challenges of using some common video visiting models across a variety of settings. Video visiting can be a positive enhancement to in-person visiting, and has the potential to promote positive outcomes for incarcerated individuals and their families and communities. In certain circumstances, video visiting may benefit corrections by reducing costs, improving safety and security, and allowing for more flexibility in designating visiting hours. The value of video visiting can be maximized when the goals of the facility are balanced with the needs of incarcerated individuals and their families" (p. vii). This guide is comprised of three chapters: why consider video visiting; implementation considerations; and evaluating a video visiting program. Appendixes cover: additional uses for video conferencing in corrections; video visiting with children; identifying a video visiting model; implementation checklist; and evaluation tools. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Corrections, 2014. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2015 at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/029609.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/029609.pdf Shelf Number: 134562 Keywords: Families of InmatesPrison VisitsVideo VisitingVisitation (U.S.) |
Author: Nugent, Briege Title: Evaluation of the Theatre Nemo Pilot at HMP Addiewell Summary: Theatre NEMO' is Glasgow based charity theatre company that specialises in improving and promoting positive mental health and wellbeing through creative workshops in the community, in psychiatric hospitals and in prisons. This type of project has never been undertaken before and therefore the evaluation has the potential to bring new learning and establish good practice for working with families and widening the scope of throughcare interventions. The Evaluation has involved interviewing all participants and analysing prison officer observations of those taking part both before and after the pilot. Prison and Theatre Nemo Management were interviewed as well as observational notes taken during sessions attended by the researcher. MAIN FINDINGS - Although all participants felt that they already had good interaction, they appreciated the opportunity to do something together as a family and found the action of doing things together bonding, and also more enjoyable than simply going through the motions of a visit. - The prison officers felt that all the families who took part were interacting better and having more fun as a result, they also felt that the prisoners were calmer and happier than usual during the weeks of the course. One woman who has mental health problems said that she felt better able to cope generally during the course. The benefits of the arts to help people with mental health problems has been noted in the feasibility study and also re-emphasised in this current evaluation. The impact of the arts as this study shows goes beyond helping those with identified mental health problems, participants have felt a general improvement in levels of happiness and well being, and this significant impact should not be underestimated. - Prison management described the officers as being sceptical about the pilot, but after witnessing the positive impact on participants they were said to be 'converted' to supporting this initiative fully for the future. - All participants, but particularly the women attending had their levels of self-esteem and confidence recorded improve. - The men said that the sentence they are doing in prison is harder on their family than it is on them and they felt that there should be more in prison to involve families. Equally it was clear from the interviews with all three women that having someone in prison has made their life difficult. For example, the two partners spoke about the loss of income and the reality of bringing up children on their own on a day to day basis, these testimonies further evidence the importance of support services such as Circle and Families Outside. - The women greatly appreciated being connected to support in the community and it noted that although they want help they are often reluctant to ask for it, this shows that possibly services needed to do more to reach out to this population. - Theatre Nemo have provided transport for participants and without this in place they would have struggled to attend. Transport to prisons is an ongoing problem and the main inhibitor identified, for future projects this cost should be factored in. - The support offered by HMP Addiewell has been invaluable; Theatre Nemo and Prison Management have worked well together and established strong communication which has been a key factor in the project's success. Details: Glasgow: Theatre Nemo, 2011. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 20, 2015 at: https://lemosandcrane.co.uk/ Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://lemosandcrane.co.uk/ Shelf Number: 135267 Keywords: Families of InmatesMental HealthPrisoner Rehabilitation Programs (U.K.)Theatre Programs |
Author: Markson, Lucy Title: The impact of contextual family risks on prisoners' children's behavioural outcomes and the potential protective role of family functioning moderators Summary: Research suggests that children of prisoners have an increased risk for behavioural and emotional problems. However, in a resilience approach one should expect heterogeneous outcomes and thus apply a contextualised perspective. As this is rarely acknowledged in empirical research, the present study sought to fill this gap using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study on 801 children of imprisoned fathers. We explored the extent to which cumulative family risks measured during the first year of life (e.g., poverty, mental health problems) predicted behavioural outcomes at age 9 and whether potentially protective aspects of family functioning moderated the impact of these risk factors. Cumulative risk significantly predicted behavioural outcomes, but the associations were weak. No strong evidence of moderation was found. At low risk, mother-child closeness moderated behavioural outcomes. There was also some evidence of moderation by accumulated protective factors. Potential implications for policy and practice and challenges for further research are discussed. . Details: Working paper, 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Fragile Families Working Paper: WP15-01-FF: Accessed May 13, 2015 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP15-01-FF.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP15-01-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 135551 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission Title: Unfinished business: Koori women and the justice system Summary: It has been 20 years since the report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and, sadly, in that time the proportion of Australian prisoners that are Indigenous has almost doubled. In Victoria, the over-representation of Koori people in prison, women in particular, has also increased dramatically in the last few years. Research shows once they have had contact with justice system, they are very likely to reoffend and return to prison. Around 80 per cent of the Koori women in prison are mothers, so their imprisonment not only removes them from the community - it removes their children from them. This increases the likelihood of their children entering out-of-homecare, which is in turn one of the biggest risk factors for them one day coming in contact with the justice system themselves. The longer term effects of this are profound, on the women, their families and their children. In the shorter term they are compounded by the lack of pre-prison diversionary options and support postrelease and in the inability to access employment or education or find safe and affordable housing for themselves and their children. Without these things the risk of re-offending is significantly higher. Details: Carlton, Victoria: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, 2013. 126p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: https://interactivepdf.uniflip.com/2/87691/311342/pub/document.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: https://interactivepdf.uniflip.com/2/87691/311342/pub/document.pdf Shelf Number: 129679 Keywords: AboriginalsChildren of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale OffendersIndigenous PeoplesWomen Prisoners |
Author: Peterson, Bryce Title: Children of Incarcerated Parents Framework Document: Promising Practices, Challenges, and Recommendations for the Field Summary: Nearly 3 million US children under the age of 18 currently have a parent in jail or prison, and an estimated 10 million or more children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lifetimes. Those children often experience trauma when they witness their parents being arrested, see them in court, and visit them in jail. The Urban Institute partnered with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) on a project to identify promising and innovative practices that have the potential to mitigate that trauma and to improve parent-child relationships. This project yielded a framework document and three toolkits. The toolkits provide detailed information on how to develop and implement parental arrest policies, family-focused jail programs, and family impact statements, while this framework document synthesizes what we learned about promising practices, and it provides information about the context surrounding children and their justice-involved parents. This document aims to help people interested in developing practices in their own jurisdictions to understand how important these issues are, to learn how to talk about these issues with their constituencies, and to appreciate how changes in practice can make meaningful differences for children and parents. To accomplish the goals, we engaged in several processes to determine which practices to highlight. - First, we conducted a scan of practices by leveraging our various professional networks, sifting through publicly available information online, and conducting telephone interviews with program staff members in 40 organizations and agencies. - From this scan, the Urban staff, in partnership with NIC, selected three locations that were most suitable for site visits. Those locations - New York City , New York; Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and the San Francisco Bay Area, California - had a concentration of efforts focused on children of justice-involved parents that seemed to be promising and worth disseminating to a larger audience through this project. The three locations were selected because they each had stakeholders from nonprofit organizations and government agencies working together on practices for the children of justice-involved individuals. Selecting those sites offered the opportunity to gain a diversity of perspectives, to learn about their public-private partnerships, and to gather information about how a single location can target parental involvement across several stages of the criminal justice continuum, including arrest, pretrial detention, and sentencing. Appendix A (p. 24) provides a more thorough description of each location, including the organizations and stakeholders with whom we met during our site visits. - Finally, we conducted site visits to meet with relevant stakeholders in government agencies and community-based organizations across the three locations. During those visits, we spoke to stakeholders in multiple positions - from agency heads and executives involved in designing collaborative efforts and initiatives, to supervisors managing programs and to the staff members directly serving children or justice-involved parents. We interviewed actors representing multiple roles and heard about a range of issues that surfaced, both during policy development and execution, in the interviewees' efforts to meet the needs of children with parents in the justice system. From those discussions, as well as observations of field operations, we learned about several promising and innovative practices geared toward the children. We were also able to gather and synthesize lessons for the field, thereby identifying the challenges that stakeholders encountered in developing and implementing the programs, as well as their recommendations for overcoming the challenges. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2015. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2015 at: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/2000256-Children-of-Incarcerated-Parents-Framework-Document.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/2000256-Children-of-Incarcerated-Parents-Framework-Document.pdf Shelf Number: 136513 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: deVuono-powell, Saneta Title: Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families. Summary: Each year, the United States spends $80 billion to lock away more than 2.4 million people in its jails and prisons - budgetary allocations that far outpace spending on housing, transportation, and higher education. But costs run deeper than budget line items and extend far beyond the sentences served. These costs are rarely quantified and measured and primarily impact incarcerated populations and the families and communities from whom they are separated, the same people who are already stigmatized, penalized, and punished. Families pay both the apparent and hidden costs while their loved ones serve out sentences in our jails and prisons. Because families are formed in diverse ways and take many forms, the definition used in this report encompasses families built across generations and borders and within and beyond blood relations. The families in this report and those who support loved ones bear the burden to help those individuals re-acclimate to society after serving time. Four decades of unjust criminal justice policies have created a legacy of collateral impacts that last for generations and are felt most deeply by women, low-income families, and communities of color. In March 2014, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Forward Together, and Research Action Design launched a collaborative participatory research project with 20 community-based organizations across the country to address this unjust legacy. Trained community researchers reached directly into communities in 14 states, probing into the financial costs faced when a family member goes to jail or prison, the resulting effects on physical and mental health, and the challenges and barriers encountered by all when an individual returns home. The research included surveys with 712 formerly incarcerated people, 368 family members of the formerly incarcerated, 27 employers, and 34 focus groups with family members and individuals impacted by incarceration. The project revealed that many of the costs and penalties associated with incarceration continue long after incarceration ends and reach far beyond the individual being punished, with negative impacts for families and communities. The findings show that the long-term costs extend beyond the significant sums already paid by individuals and their families for immediate and myriad legal expenses, including cost of attorney, court fees and fines, and phone and visitation charges. In fact, these costs often amount to one year's total household income for a family and can force a family into debt. Latent costs include, but are not limited to, mental health support, care for untreated physical ailments, the loss of children sent to foster care or extended family, permanent declines in income, and loss of opportunities like education and employment for both the individuals incarcerated and their family members, opportunities that could lead to a brighter future. Details: Oakland, CA: Ella Baker Center, Forward Together, Research Action Design, 2015. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 16, 2015 at: http://ellabakercenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/who-pays.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://ellabakercenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/who-pays.pdf Shelf Number: 136781 Keywords: Costs of CrimeCosts of Criminal JusticeCosts of IncarcerationFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Manby, Martin Title: Exploring the Emotional Impact of Parental Imprisonment on Children through Children's, Parents' and Carers' Accounts Summary: This child-centred case study, which explored the impact of parental imprisonment on children, developed from the European COPING research project (2010 - 2012). Qualitative methods and a thematic analysis were used to review data from interviews with children, their parents/carers and imprisoned parents, in 22 families, mainly from the north of England. My findings confirmed that the quality of children's relationships with their parent/carer and other relatives is the most important protective factors for them. Children's resilience is frequently characterised by a two-way empathetic process, children being supported by their parents/carers and supporting them in return. Time is a crucial dimension in how children experience parental imprisonment. The experience of stigma was almost universal for families in this study. Children were cautious about sharing information about parental imprisonment. Paternal and maternal imprisonment impact differentially on children. Children seem more likely to experience emotional turmoil from the imprisonment of their same sex parent. Girls tend to be more resilient and boys more vulnerable. Schools are most often the agencies best placed to help children of prisoners. Parents/carers frequently gained self-confidence from successfully fulfilling their responsibilities. They re-appraised their imprisoned partner's role and status, and families developed either more open or more closed policies about handling parental imprisonment. Imprisoned parents can partially fulfil their parenting roles. Alongside the harm caused to children by parental imprisonment, a majority of families experienced some benefits. Further research should explore the differential impact of parental imprisonment on girls and boys in more detail. Details: Huddersfield, UK: University of Huddersfield, 2014. 361p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 25, 2015 at: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/24268/1/Final_thesis_-_MANBY.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/24268/1/Final_thesis_-_MANBY.pdf Shelf Number: 136872 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Reid Howie Associates Title: HMP Low Moss Research Programme into Innovative Practice (Vol 1). Family Visits and First Time in Custody Summary: A number of innovative practices are being introduced in HMP Low Moss. These are designed to stimulate, promote and sustain cultural change, and to support prisoner rehabilitation through mentoring, pro-social examples and positive role modelling. Amongst the new developments are: - An innovative system for visits and family contact, focusing on promoting family integration in a positive pro-social environment, driven by the needs of the family and specifically the child. - A separate regime and facilities for prisoners in custody for the first time. Research was carried out in late 2012 / early 2013 to explore the implementation and impact of these new practices and the main findings are summarised below. Visits and family contact. The new approach to visits and family contact involves the visitor (rather than the prisoner) arranging the visits. There are three family and friends visit sessions per day (and two at weekends) and prisoners can take as many visits as they wish, subject to availability. Children's visits are available daily at 17:15, where prisoners can play with their children and help with homework, and all prisoners who are parents or grandparent are eligible for these. There is also an induction visit for prisoners who are new to custody, or new to Low Moss. The ethos of the prison also involves working to promote a positive environment in which positive contact can take place. Key findings The new approach to visits and family contact in Low Moss is seen to be very positive overall by prisoners, families, staff and volunteers. Both family and friends visits and children's visits are seen to be beneficial, and the approach to visits and family contact is seen as consistent with the overall ethos in Low Moss. The approach is seen to have a positive impact on enabling prisoners to maintain relationships with their families and to be involved in their lives, affecting: the actual relationships; the level of participation by prisoners in family life; and their ability to discuss important issues with their families. There is a clear view that the children's visits have a positive impact on bonding between prisoners and their children, and that they enable parents and grandparents to be involved in their children and grandchildren's growing up. While it is more difficult to identify the impact of visits and family contact upon future desistance (given, for example, the influence of other factors and the longer term timescale for such an impact), participants expressed a number of positive views which are relevant to future behaviour, with family contact seen as an important aspect of easing prisoners' transition back into the community. Aspects of the new approach to visits and family contact considered particularly positive are: - The opportunity, frequency and availability of family contact. - Flexibility in approach and the focus on enabling contact. - Pleasant surroundings and a relaxed atmosphere for the visits. - Activities and events (particularly freedom of movement at children's visits). - The staff approach. - The benefits to prisoners and families of the positive family contact. Against this background, however, there are concerns with some specific aspects of visits and family contact, which appear to impact on prisoners' and families' experiences and views. These relate to: - Practical problems with the booking system. - Timing, length and accessibility issues for some families. - Aspects of the process and rules (e.g. nature / level of security procedures). - Aspects of privacy (particularly in a small number of tables in the visit room). - Aspects of the layout and facilities for some families. - The quality and availability of toys and equipment for children. - The limited choice of refreshments and lack of hot food. - The attitudes of some staff (and variation in these). While the general approach to visits and family contact is seen to be very positive, a number of suggestions are made in the report about addressing these concerns. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Prison Service, 2014. 85p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3517.aspx Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3517.aspx Shelf Number: 137003 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesVisitation |
Author: Reid Howie Associates Title: HMP Low Moss Research Programme into Innovative Practice 2012-2014. (Vol 2). Relationships, Culture and Ethos Summary: There have been a number of significant changes in the SPS in recent years at strategic, policy and practice level, and in wider criminal justice policy. The new HMP Low Moss has been involved in implementing and testing innovative practice and the revised SPS operating philosophy since it opened in March 2012. A range of new practices have been introduced into the prison which are designed to stimulate, promote and sustain cultural change and to support prisoner rehabilitation within the new penal environment. A programme of research has been undertaken to explore these innovative practices in Low Moss and their impact, in the context of wider changes. This research was part of that programme, and the overall objectives of this study were to examine the quality of relationships within the regime and the nature of the prevailing culture and ethos in Low Moss. The study took an "Appreciative Inquiry" (AI) approach to identifying the key issues for those living and working in Low Moss, with a focus on identifying "best experiences" throughout/ Key Findings There were generally very positive views of the relationships, culture and ethos in Low Moss from stakeholder groups of all types. The research identified a prevalent view that Low Moss was different (and preferable) to other prisons in Scotland. Key factors included the focus in the prison on: - Relationships based on mutual respect, support and appropriate values. - Positive relationships with families. - Provision of opportunities and holistic support to prisoners, to enable change. - The overall environment, including safety and comfort. - A positive, "can-do" ethos and culture. The research found that the Low Moss regime, operating philosophy and culture were seen to have become an integral part of the prison in its first 18 months, with the approach having "bedded in". The approach was seen to have a positive impact upon stakeholders in terms of, for example: day to day well-being and satisfaction; personal development; addressing specific issues; promoting positive change among prisoners; and contributing to the likelihood of their future desistance from offending. There was found to be a shared strategic approach and "vision" at senior management level, with a high level of commitment, as well as good team-working and mutual support and a general focus on enabling and encouraging new ideas. Most staff viewed working in Low Moss favourably, with strong teamworking and generally positive views of relationships with a range of stakeholders. Staff recognised the difference in their work with prisoners implied by the Low Moss approach, and many valued the challenge. The prison was seen to have high expectations of staff, and staff were generally proud of their involvement in "making a difference". There were seen to be good opportunities for learning and development for ambitious staff. Most of the prisoners identified Low Moss as being different to other prisons they had experienced, and expressed positive views of the difference. Aspects of the Low Moss approach identified as particularly important to them included: better treatment by staff; the "family-friendly approach"; positive opportunities and support; the relaxed atmosphere; and the safe, clean, well-equipped and modern environment. Relationships between prisoners themselves were also seen to be generally good, particularly in the PIP section (for those in custody for the first time), and the provision of support by other prisoners was common. Prisoners generally felt that they were listened to, and that the staff would explain reasons for decisions more readily than in other prisons. Other stakeholders and service providers were also very positive overall about the prison, and their own experiences and involvement. There was seen to be a good level of partnership and "joined up" working, with input from other stakeholders being seen as integral to the holistic approach within the prison. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Prison Service, 2014. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3520.aspx Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3520.aspx Shelf Number: 137004 Keywords: Children of PrisonersCorrectional AdministrationCorrections OfficersFamilies of InmatesPrison AdministrationPrisons |
Author: Weaver, Beth Title: Families of Prisoners: A Review of the Evidence Summary: The purpose of this paper is to increase awareness of the issues experienced by the children and families of prisoners and to provide a resource to be used in conjunction with other resources to inform the "Child and Family Impact Assessments" and subsequent support proposed by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill. This paper represents a summary of research into the needs and experiences of children and families of prisoners; the impact of imprisonment on family relationships; and the role that families play in supporting the reintegration process. The literature reviewed here highlights that the impacts of imprisonment on children and families can be significant and wide ranging, including emotional, social, psychological, financial, relational, physical and developmental effects. However, the extent to which a child or family will be affected will be influenced by a myriad of factors particular to that child and their family, and the impact will vary according to the nature of the offence, pre-prison variables and other underlying difficulties, relational dynamics, care arrangements (before and during the period of incarceration), and the wider support systems and socio-structural context. Likewise the impact of imprisonment on family relationships is not straightforward and is influenced by various factors including pre-prison factors (such as the residential status of the imprisoned parent and relationship quality), which relationship is being considered (i.e. with intimate partners or parent/child), and the level and type of in-prison contact. Moreover, whilst the role and range of supports that families can provide in resettlement support is recognised as critical, such generalisations obscure the complexity and contingency of the experiences and effects of imprisonment for prisoners' families, on relationships, and their capacities to provide this support. Consequently, a number of implications for policy and practice are evident, including: - Progressing the details of the Support for Children (Impact of Parental Imprisonment) (Scotland) Bill via the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill; - Reducing the use of imprisonment; - Adopting a multi-disciplinary and "Whole Family" approach to all practice that takes seriously the views of the incarcerated parent, their child[ren] and their family and which identifies, assesses and builds on their needs and strengths; - Ensuring the identification, and completion of individualised and holistic assessments, of the children and families of prisoners that include factors at the level of the individual, wider family and community; - Supporting the needs of children and families of imprisoned parents through the proactive provision of timely information, practical advice, and emotional support, which may be via peer support groups; problem solving family work; and/or proactively referring such families to specialist services; - Where appropriate, supporting contact with the imprisoned family member; - Increased public and professional awareness of the prevalence of parental imprisonment and the needs and strengths of families of prisoners. Details: Glasgow: Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice, 2015l 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 28, 2015 at: http://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Families-of-Prisoners-A-Review-of-The-Evidence-FINAL.pdf Year: 2015 Country: International URL: http://www.cycj.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Families-of-Prisoners-A-Review-of-The-Evidence-FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 137358 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Gordon, Liz Title: Formative Evaluation report Summary: This brief formative evaluation examines issues arising from the development of a Pillars family/whanau re-integration programme in May and June 2011. The evaluation report is to be submitted to the Department of Corrections along with the written programme and materials that have been developed into the Close to Home package. Most prisoners are parents, and most do not keep in good touch with their children and whanau through the sentence. Yet the research makes it clear that prisoners who get good support from their families/whanau are far less likely to re-offend than those who do not. A range of programmes were researched in developing the programme, and include information on what kind of programme, eligibility issues, length, content and actual and expected outcomes for the courses. This information was used in developing the structure and content of Close to Home. The programme was developed over 6-8 weeks and has been written as a programme workbook for delivery. It is summarised in this report. Features of the programme include: the use of high quality assessment tools and workbooks that have been developed for other programmes; a significant amount of work with the prisoner and whanau present; a strong focus on planning reintegration; and the use of a range of agencies through the Strengthening Families process to facilitate prisoner re-entry. This approach allows for the particular issues facing individual families to be addressed, and for families/whanau to have access to the resources of a wide range of agencies. The programme The programme involves significant pre-release work and also post-release guiding and support. Stakeholders support family/whanau re-integration, although they have a range of different views as to what it entails. There is acknowledgement that prisons currently have not focussed adequately on the role of the family/whanau, nor on the prisoner as a parent. The project materials were analysed. A wide range of good quality materials are available and will be used at various points through the pilot project. Core tools include the Time's Up workbook and the assessment tools, among others. The main findings of the formative evaluation are that a very effective programme has been assembled using a range of resources from a variety of sources. Key risks include the need to bring in a new staff member for the pilot programme phase, and the difficulties in tailoring courses to individual needs. The main risk for the pilot programme is timeliness, as all aspects of the programme will need to be complete within three months. Details: Christchurch, NZ: Pukeko Research Ltd., 2012. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 10, 2016 at: http://www.pillars.org.nz/images/stories/pdfs/formative_evaluation_of_close_to_home.pdf Year: 2012 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.pillars.org.nz/images/stories/pdfs/formative_evaluation_of_close_to_home.pdf Shelf Number: 137834 Keywords: Children of PrisonersCorrectional ProgramsFamilies of InmatesMale InmatesMale PrisonersPrisoner ReentryPrisoner RehabilitationReintegration |
Author: Gordon, Liz Title: Formative Evaluation of the Activities Centre at Christchurch Men's Prison Summary: Should children visit their incarcerated parent in prison? Do prison policies and practices impede or support the maintenance of prisoners' family ties? These questions have been the focus of research both internationally and in New Zealand. The Pillars Inc research project (Gordon, 2009, 2011) which examined the situation of the children of prisoners in New Zealand, found that regulations around prison visiting had become much more stringent in recent years and few opportunities were evident for active parenting in the prison environment. Following Gordon's research, a joint prison/Pillars committee has worked to set up a pilot Activities Centre in the low security visiting area of Christchurch Men's Prison. The Centre's aim was to facilitate father and child bonding and contribute to better family outcomes. In conjunction with this initiative, an evaluation project was undertaken between April and June 2012. The evaluation data was gathered from a number of sources: a review of literature, paperwork, meeting minutes and materials associated with the Centre's background and development; attendance at the Centre over two days to observe, write field notes and undertake evaluative interviews with prisoners and their families; a series of stakeholder interviews. Setting up the Activities Centre was shared, using a task-orientated action model; Pillars were responsible for stocking and staffing the Centre, and Corrections undertook the capital development and furnishings. Preparations went smoothly. Three existing rooms in the visiting centre in Christchurch Mens' Prison were furnished as Arts and Crafts, reading and DVD rooms. The outdoor area was also improved, with a series of painted panels plus the addition of a hopscotch area. High quality toys, games, books and DVDs were purchased. The dates and times of the rooms' availability were well advertised beforehand and visitors could book half hour slots in advance. Although booking was minimal, over the two days that the Activities Centre was evaluated, rooms were full with families at all times. The evaluation visits identified some resource and management issues in accommodating the demand for rooms. Some conditions, such as not taking books, toys etc out of specified rooms, were relaxed in the interest of the families and children. The observer's notes provide a picture of the families' use of the Activities Centre and show that the initiative was highly successful, encouraging 'more normal' parental interactions with children, also providing privacy and quiet. In some cases some transformational changes in children's demeanour and behaviour were observed. The brief survey, undertaken with fourteen families over the two days, revealed that the families clearly enjoyed the space and the only complaint was that the Activities Centre was closed too often. The most popular activities are drawing, colouring and stickers, followed by dolls and cars. Overall the satisfaction ratings for the Activities Centre were very high. Providing adequate staffing was the most problematic issue as volunteers were hard to find. Consequently the centre was run by a Pillars social worker, who was paid for this work. This person believes that two paid staff should be employed to run the Activities Centre. This would allow the centre to open each week and volunteers could still be used as support. The advantage of paid staff is experience, adequate ongoing training, and possibly better skills. However, the need for staffing may make it less likely that other prisons might adopt a similar model. The stakeholders interviewed, consisting of two Corrections staff, two Pillars staff and one volunteer, were strongly supportive of children visiting their parents in prison; in particular, they found value in many aspects of the Activities Centre. The comments mainly focussed on relationship issues and the opportunity for parenting in the prison environment. However, stakeholders also agreed that more needed to be done generally to improve parent/child relationships when a parent is in prison and all offered suggestions about this. Several stakeholders cautioned that the existence and relatively cheap transformation of the rooms was a bonus, but they raised issues about (a) whether this is the best model and (b) whether it is replicable. Various institutional factors were also mentioned. The establishment of a pilot Activities Centre at Christchurch Mens' Prison facilitates father and child bonding and contributes to better family outcomes. The potential benefit of this initiative is clear and other correctional facilities in New Zealand might consider adopting a similar workable model. Details: Christchurch, NZ: Pukeko Research Ltd, 2012. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 11, 2016 at: http://www.pillars.org.nz/images/stories/pdfs/ac_evaluation_report.pdf Year: 2012 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.pillars.org.nz/images/stories/pdfs/ac_evaluation_report.pdf Shelf Number: 137841 Keywords: Children of PrisonersCorrectional ProgramsFamilies of InmatesMale InmatesMale PrisonersParenting |
Author: Sheahan, Frances Title: A Shared Sentence: Children of imprisoned parents in Uganda Summary: It is estimated that 200,000 children in Uganda have a parent in prison at any one time. Children of prisoners in Uganda and across Africa face many violations of their rights when their parents or primary caregivers are arrested and detained. They are confronted with the trauma of separation but also have to contend with subtle and not so subtle stigma and discrimination because of their parent's involvement with the criminal justice system. Children living in prison with their mothers often live in intolerable conditions with inadequate access to nutrition, play and education. In 2013, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child adopted its first ever General Comment on the rights of children when their parents or primary caregivers are in conflict with the law. This research conducted jointly by the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative and PRI assesses to what extent the guidance contained in the General Comment has been implemented in Uganda, highlighting some of the gaps that need to be filled. Details: London: Penal Reform International; Kampala, Uganda: Foundation for Human Rights Initiative: 2015. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 22, 2016 at: http://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/PRI_FHRI-Report_-Implementation-of-GC-No1-WEB.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Uganda URL: http://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/PRI_FHRI-Report_-Implementation-of-GC-No1-WEB.pdf Shelf Number: 137933 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesPrisoners |
Author: Levine, Kay L. Title: Process as Intergenerational Punishment: Are Children Casualties of Parental Court Experiences? Summary: Ground-breaking work by Malcolm Feeley established that the experience of criminal court processing can feel like punishment to a defendant, separate and apart from the outcome of the criminal case. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether that effect extends beyond the offender to his or her family, particularly children, and whether this effect exists even before incarceration is imposed. There exists a significant body of literature that links parental incarceration to negative outcomes for children of prisoners (e.g., poor socialization, behavioral problems, poor school outcomes, etc.) Criminologists have also tied early childhood exposure to traumatic experiences (such as violence and deprivation) to later criminality. But neither of these literatures has specifically investigated the effect of criminal court processing of parents on their children, particularly when children witness court appearances or hearings. We interviewed prosecutors and active offenders in a major southeastern city to identify their perceptions of the short and long term effects of witnessing court processing on children of offenders. Our interviews suggest that such experiences could have deleterious effects similar to those observed in research on the effects of parental incarceration. We conclude by offering some policy suggestions for how the court system might mitigate these effects in the fu Details: Atlanta, GA: Emory University School of Law, 2016. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Emory Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-394 : Accessed March 8, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2724761 Year: 0 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2724761 Shelf Number: 138124 Keywords: Children of Prisoners Families of Inmates |
Author: Bruns, Angela Title: Consequences of Partner Incarceration for Women's Employment Summary: As the rate of incarceration in the U.S. has increased, researchers have developed an interest in understanding the consequences of this expansion not only for current and former prisoners but also for their loved ones. This research has documented the limited opportunities men have to earn income while in prison and the difficulties they face finding employment upon release or earning decent wages when they do find work. However, little research has considered the relationship between men's incarceration and the employment of the women to which they are connected. The families of incarcerated individuals face a high degree of economic instability that is often exacerbated by family members' involvement with the penal system. This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to investigate how men's incarceration is associated with the employment of their female partners, or women with whom they share children, as well as variation in this association. Results show that, on average, women's hours of work are not significantly impacted by the incarceration of their partners. However, there is a positive relationship between partner incarceration and employment among married women, white women and women experiencing the first imprisonment of their partners. Details: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2016. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper: Accessed March 14, 2016 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP16-01-FF.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP16-01-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 138228 Keywords: EmploymentEx-Offender EmploymentFamilies of Inmates |
Author: New South Wales. Inspector of Custodial Services Title: Making Connections: Providing family and community support to young people in custody Summary: Inspector of Custodial Services' first inspection examining juvenile justice centres looked at the ways in which family and community support is provided to young people in custody. That there is value in providing family and community support to young people in detention is widely recognised and is reflected in domestic legislation and Juvenile Justice Standards. It has been highlighted by the experience in other jurisdictions, such as the 1998 Queensland Forde Inquiry, that contact with family and community should be an entitlement of detainees, rather than a privilege. Family and community contact can reduce detainees' sense of isolation while in custody and can also support reintegration outcomes when they are released. This inspection examined two centres: Juniperina Juvenile Justice Centre and Reiby Juvenile Justice Centres. Juniperina is the only female-only centre in NSW, and Reiby accommodates both younger boys (10-16 years old) and those with behavioural issues. These centres were selected as they offered an overview of the types of issues faced by young people held in detention, who are often from a complex and disadvantaged background. The inherent challenges faced by JJNSW in assisting young people to maintain links with their family and community while incarcerated are exacerbated by the fact that a high proportion of young people are placed in a detention centre outside their home region and tend to spend a relatively short time in custody. Overall, the inspection found that JJNSW promotes and facilitates contact between young people and their families and communities in a satisfactory way. Contact with family is mainly facilitated through telephone and face-to-face visits; and juvenile justice officers involve family in the case management process where possible. Engagement with the local community is achieved through having programs delivered in the centres by non-government organisations, or the use of external leave or work arrangements where this is assessed as appropriate. The family contact policies are well defined by JJNSW and administered effectively by staff in the centres, although there are some differences in the ways they may be applied to individual cases. The Inspector appreciates the need to maintain flexibility when applying these policies, but underscores the importance of remembering that contact with family is an entitlement of all young people in detention and access to family should never be used as a tool to manage behaviour. A key point of concern for the Inspector that became evident during this inspection was the level of security utilised during visits. Rigorous security processes are essential to the smooth running of the centre, but they should not unfairly impinge on the rights of young people. Current practice sees strip-searching of young people carried out as routine procedure after, and in some cases before, being granted a visit with family. Young people are also dressed in security overalls for all visits, including non-contact ones. The Inspector believes these measures can create further problems for already fragile young people and that a proper risk-based assessment would target the trafficking of contraband equally as well. The inspection found that both centres have regular and ongoing engagement with their local communities and NGOs. Centre management works with local groups to deliver a range of in-house programs for young people, although the level of interaction varies across centres. An outstanding example of outreach with the local community is seen at the Waratah Unit at Reiby, a pre-release unit focusing on developing the life skills of young men before they are released. There are notable differences in the opportunities and programs offered to young men and young women and the inspection recommends that comparable opportunities should be available to women as they are to men. Such opportunities should be available for both in-house programs and access to a transitional program and external work release, such as that offered at the Waratah Unit. Details: Sydney: Inspector of Custodial Services, 2015. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 15, 2016 at: http://www.custodialinspector.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/FINAL%20Making%20Connections%20report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: http://www.custodialinspector.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/FINAL%20Making%20Connections%20report.pdf Shelf Number: 138246 Keywords: Community ParticipationFamilies of InmatesJuvenile Detention CentersJuvenile Offenders |
Author: Duda, Janelle Title: Evaluation of Judicial Process Commission's Women's Re-entry Project Summary: The Women's Re-entry Program out of Rochester, New York serves pregnant women and mothers of young children coming out of jail. The program began enrolling women into services in March 2010 and ran through April 2012. While the program ended in April 2012, some components of the program continue through to the present. Rochester, New York has a population of 210,565, of which 42% of the population is Black or African American and 16% is of Hispanic or Latino descent (US Census, 2010). Rochester is faced with issues similar to those of urban areas across the nation. Issues such as high rates of criminal justice supervision, vacant housing, teen pregnancy and low graduation rates plague the City of Rochester. Further, 38% of children under the age of 12 live in poverty in Rochester, making it ranked the 11th highest city in the nation for child poverty (Children's Agenda, n.d.). Monroe County receives about 6,000 men and women returning from federal, state and local incarceration yearly (Judicial Process Commission, personal communication, June 17, 2013). This program receives participants mostly from the Monroe Correctional Facility (MCF), located in Brighton New York, which houses 475 sentenced inmates. The Monroe County Jail (MCJ) is a pre-trial detention facility located in Rochester, which houses about 1,000 inmates, only a few of which have been sentenced. While the annual jail population is about 14,000 total, on any given day, the two facilities house about 1,400 inmates. Of the 14,000 held, about one third was sentenced. In 2010, there were 2,580 women incarcerated, of which 876 were sentenced (19% of the total sentenced population). A daily average of 45 sentenced females was in the MCF/MCJ in 2010. This program works exclusively with a population which has historically been ignored in the criminal justice system: females. Female offenders are an extremely vulnerable population (Kubiak, Young, Siefert, & Stewart, 2004; Schroeder & Bell, 2005; Knight & Plugge, 2005; Wiewel & Mosley, 2006). This program sought to work closely with this at risk population in order to provide intensive case management services that would position the participants to make informed life decisions, while being supported in the process. Details: Rochester, NY: Rochester Institute of Technology, Center for Public Safety Initiatives, 2013. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 11, 2016 at: https://www.rit.edu/cla/criminaljustice/sites/rit.edu.cla.criminaljustice/files/docs/WorkingPapers/2013/2013-08.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.rit.edu/cla/criminaljustice/sites/rit.edu.cla.criminaljustice/files/docs/WorkingPapers/2013/2013-08.pdf Shelf Number: 138624 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale OffendersPrison Reentry |
Author: Annie E. Casey Foundation Title: A Shared Sentence: The devastating toll of parental incarceration on kids, families and communities Summary: More than 5 million U.S. children have had a parent in jail or prison at some point in their lives. The incarceration of a parent can have as much impact on a child's well-being as abuse or domestic violence. But while states spend heavily on corrections, few resources exist to support those left behind. A Shared Sentence offers commonsense proposals to address the increased poverty and stress that children of incarcerated parents experience. Details: Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2016. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 26, 2016 at: http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-asharedsentence-2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-asharedsentence-2016.pdf Shelf Number: 138816 Keywords: Children of Prisoners Families of Inmates |
Author: Kramer, Katie Title: Children, Parents, and Incarceration: Descriptive Overview of Data from Alameda and San Francisco County Jails Summary: In Fall 2014, the Alameda County Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership (ACCIPP) and the San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership (SFCIPP) worked in partnership with their respective Sheriffs' Departments to survey more than 2,000 individuals incarcerated within the local county jails. The focus of the survey was to identify whom within the jails is a parent, their perceptions of how their incarceration affects their children, and what types of resources are needed for children to maintain contact and relationships with their parents during their parents' incarceration and after release. This report presents the findings from these surveys. Details: San Francisco: Alameda County Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnerhsip & San Francisco Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership, 2016. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 28, 2016 at: http://sfgov.org/sfreentry/sites/default/files/Documents/CIP%20Jail%20Survey%20-%20Full%20Report%20FINAL%203%2015%2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://sfgov.org/sfreentry/sites/default/files/Documents/CIP%20Jail%20Survey%20-%20Full%20Report%20FINAL%203%2015%2016.pdf Shelf Number: 138837 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesParenting |
Author: Paddick, Sarah Title: Women and Children in Prisons: Accommodation Study Summary: In Australia it is current government policy in all States to allow certain female prisoners to keep their children with them in prison during their sentences. The maximum age of the children and the specific profile of the mother varies from state to state but the intent and philosophy is the same - that in certain situations it is the 'best' option for both mother and child. Whether it is in the best interests of the child is generally determined by a recognised independent children's authority, through an assessment process. This report does not discuss or question this position in detail. There is a brief summary of some supporting arguments and studies that do so, and this will hopefully direct the reader to further areas of research and discussion. Instead I examine how mothers and children are accommodated within a correctional environment both in Australia and in other countries around the world, with a particular focus on the architecture of each facility I visited during the duration of my scholarship. I also highlight the ways in which relationships between mothers and children can be maintained if cohabitation within the correctional facility is not possible i.e. in the instance of older children, or where a mother's or child's particular circumstances do not allow it to occur. Details: Adelaide: Government of South Australia, 2011. 175p. Source: Internet Resource: Catherine Helen Spence Memorial scholarship 2010/11: Accessed May 5, 2016 at: https://www.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/7422/MothersAndBabiesInPrisonAccommodationStudy2010-2011WebVersion.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: https://www.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/7422/MothersAndBabiesInPrisonAccommodationStudy2010-2011WebVersion.pdf Shelf Number: 138932 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale Prisoners |
Author: Lindquist, Christine Title: Multi-site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering: Change in Father-Child Relationships Before, During and After Incarceration Summary: Understanding what supports strong relationships formerly incarcerated men and their children could have an impact on individual, interpersonal, and community safety and well-being. The information in this research brief is drawn from a couples-based longitudinal study of families affected by incarceration, focusing on 772 fathers who were incarcerated at the beginning of the study and released prior to the completion of the final study interviews. This brief examines several aspects of the fathers' relationships with their children after their release from incarceration, including fathers' residential arrangements and financial support for their focal children and dimensions of the quality of the relationships the fathers reported having with their children after their release. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation/Office of Human Services Policy, 2016. 449p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Brief: Accessed May 16, 2016 at: https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/257881/MFSIPImpactReport.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/257881/MFSIPImpactReport.pdf Shelf Number: 139048 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesParentingPrisoner Reentry |
Author: Tasca, Melinda Title: "It's Not All Cupcakes and Lollipops": An Investigation of the Predictors and Effects of Prison Visitation for Children during Maternal and Paternal Incarceration Summary: The purpose of this project is to better understand the factors associated with, and effects of, prison visitation for children during maternal and paternal incarceration. As gatekeepers, caregivers play a pivotal role in the facilitation of parent-child prison visitation. Yet, some caregivers may be more likely to take children to visit than others. Additionally, among those children who do visit, visitation may be positive in some ways and negative in others. To advance prior work, this study (1) assesses the relationship between caregiver type and parent-child prison visitation and (2) investigates the emotional and behavioral responses of children who visit. The current research uses mixed-methods and is carried out in two phases. For Phase 1, quantitative data on 984 children collected from structured interviews with incarcerated parents (N=279 mothers; N=143 fathers) in the Arizona Department of Corrections are used to examine the relationship between caregiver type and the likelihood of parent-child prison visitation. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses are conducted separately for maternal and paternal incarceration. Phase 2 draws on caregivers' accounts of 40 children who visit their parent in prison to assess children's emotional and behavioral reactions to visitation. Data are coded to identify positive and negative responses, "visitation paradox" indicators, prior life circumstances and child age. Thematic content analyses are conducted to capture major themes. Analyses from Phase 1 confirm a significant relationship between caregiver type and mother-child and father-child visitation. Other factors that affected the likelihood of parental visitation included child situational factors, parent stressors, institutional barriers and child demographics, although these effects differed depending upon which parent was in prison. Results from Phase 2 revealed overwhelmingly negative responses among children to parental prison visitation. Key themes that accounted for child reactions included institutional context and parental attachment. This research adds to the collateral consequences of incarceration literature by providing greater insight into the imprisonment experience for vulnerable families. Further, these results have direct implications for correctional policy and practice pertaining to the manner and regulation of prison visits and also inform reentry efforts through a family-centric approach. Details: Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University, 2014. 171p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 22, 2016 at: https://repository.asu.edu/attachments/134780/content/Tasca_asu_0010E_13623.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://repository.asu.edu/attachments/134780/content/Tasca_asu_0010E_13623.pdf Shelf Number: 139070 Keywords: Children of Prisoners Families of InmatesPrison Visits Visitation |
Author: Bernstein, Nell Title: Mothers at the Gate: How a powerful Family Movement is Transforming the Juvenile Justice System Summary: One in four women in the United States has a family member in prison. Among black women, this number rises to two in five. The family burden of incarceration falls disproportionately on women - especially black and Latino women - and on families that are low-income and poor. According to a report from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Forward Together, and Research Action Design entitled Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families ' in an overwhelming majority of cases, family members were primarily responsible for the costs associated with having a loved one arrested and/or incarcerated - everything from lawyers' fees, to court-imposed fines, to collect calls and visiting expenses. Eighty-three percent of these family members were women. Further, the report also found that the fiscal costs associated with a family member's incarceration left half of those affected struggling to meet basic needs and more than a third in debt. As of 2013, more than 54,000 juveniles were incarcerated in juvenile detention, correction, or other residential facilities. While this represents a significant decrease from highs in the 1990s, the U.S. still locks up far more of its children than do other countries - 18 times more than France and five times more than South Africa, for instance. Given these numbers, it may not be surprising that a movement of family members - particularly mothers - is developing around the country, a movement that aims to challenge both the conditions in which their loved ones are held and the fact of mass incarceration itself. This report reflects an initial effort to map that movement and to distill the shared wisdom of its leaders. Details: Washington, DC: Institute for Policy Studies, 2016. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed September 3, 2016 at: http://www.ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/k-dolan-mothers-at-the-gate-5.3.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/k-dolan-mothers-at-the-gate-5.3.pdf Shelf Number: 140144 Keywords: Families of InmatesFamilies of PrisonersJuvenile Justice ReformParenting |
Author: Wicklund, Peter Title: Lamoille Restorative Center: Resilience Beyond Incarceration Program Outcome Evaluation: Final Report Summary: The Resilience Beyond Incarceration program (RBIP) is a program within the Lamoille Restorative Center, which operates as a non-profit, community-based agency located in Hyde Park, Vermont, serving the Lamoille Valley region. The Resilience Beyond Incarceration Program was formerly called the Community Justice Project (CJP). The earlier evaluations will refer to the CJP. The RBIP is a prevention program for children of incarcerated parents. The RBIP's primary goal is to prevent children from becoming involved in the criminal justice system as young adults. The RBIP works to mitigate the trauma associated with parental incarceration and reduce the adverse effects on children. Previous outcome evaluations of the RBIP were conducted in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and were based on adult criminal history records from the Vermont Criminal Information Center (VCIC). For the 2015 study, in addition to the VCIC adult records, for the first time juvenile criminal records were made available for the RBIP participants through the Courts Administrator's Office (CAO). The following section provides an overview of the previous outcome evaluations through 2014, and includes additional summaries of the RBIP participants' juvenile criminal activities during this time period. Details: Montpelier, VT: Crime Research Group, 2016. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 22, 2016 at: http://www.crgvt.org/uploads/5/2/2/2/52222091/lrc_-_rbi_outcome_evaluation_report_november_2015rev.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.crgvt.org/uploads/5/2/2/2/52222091/lrc_-_rbi_outcome_evaluation_report_november_2015rev.pdf Shelf Number: 140414 Keywords: Children of PrisonersCommunity-Based ProgramsFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Masson, Isla MacMarquis Title: The long-term impact of short periods of imprisonment on mothers Summary: This research examines how even an initial short period in prison negatively impacts mothers and their children. It involves a series of semi-structured interviews with 16 mothers during and post-custody; looking at the different ways in which multiple aspects of their lives are negatively affected for longer periods than their incarceration. It is argued that prison often increases the social disadvantages that many of the women encounter on a day-to-day basis. Based on this research it is suggested that the morally significant harms of prison need to be considered at the time of sentencing. Incarceration is not just about a temporary loss of liberty, even short terms in prison have longer multi-dimensional consequences. The thesis will begin by looking at the use of remand for women as well as examining the sentencing rationales for the use of short sentences. It will explore the problems with these forms of punishment, particularly for non-violent, and often vulnerable, women. It will be argued that these women experience multiple pains of incarceration, often compounded by the short period in which they are imprisoned. It will be suggested that their feelings of injustice may affect whether they are able to embrace any opportunities in prison and address feelings of guilt. The thesis will also examine these mothers' experiences post-custody, describing which problems are on-going, which are resolved and what new unexpected problems arise. Given that they are mothers, their understanding of the harm of the separation to their children will also be explored. It will be concluded that the punishment should be balanced against the rights of mothers and their children. As such the use of short sentences for women should be significantly reduced, however if they continue to be used there need to be a series of changes to minimise the harms caused to this group. Details: London: King's College London, 2014. 278p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 14, 2016 at: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/40829056/2014_Masson_Isla_0945442_ethesis.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/40829056/2014_Masson_Isla_0945442_ethesis.pdf Shelf Number: 144806 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale OffendersFemale Prisoners |
Author: Glosser, Asaph Title: Simplify, Notify, Modify: Using Behavioral Insights to Increase Incarcerated Parents' Requests for Child Support Modification Summary: This report describes a collaboration between the Washington State Division of Child Support and the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) research team that aimed to increase the number of incarcerated noncustodial parents in Washington who applied for modifications to reduce the amount of their child support orders. The interventions resulted in a: 32 percentage point increase in the number of parents requesting a modification; and a 16 percentage point increase in the number of incarcerated parents receiving a modification to their child support orders within three months. The BIAS team diagnosed bottlenecks in the process for applying for modifications, hypothesized behavioral reasons for the bottlenecks, and designed a sequence of behaviorally informed materials sent to incarcerated parents. These materials provided parents with a series of supports to make them aware that they may be eligible for an order modification and to move them to action. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, 2016. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: OPRE Report 2016-43: Accessed November 7, 2016 at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/bias_wa_acf_b508_2.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/bias_wa_acf_b508_2.pdf Shelf Number: 145305 Keywords: Child SupportChildren of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFamilies of Prisoners |
Author: Oregon. Department of Corrections, Research & Evaluation Title: Department of Corrections (DOC) Family Visitation Study Summary: Incarceration limits interaction between inmates and their families. These families often provide housing and employment opportunities for inmates leaving prison. Most research at the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) has been focused on inmates and less research has been conducted on inmate families and the interaction between the inmate and their families. Furthermore, knowledge about DOC’s ability to maintain family associations and DOC’s ability to provide beneficial visitations is limited. Many inmates become dependent on their families while incarcerated. Visits, financial support, and telephone usage are important to inmates, and many rely on family members for personal items and/or materials. Visits may also be the only contact between the inmate and his/her children. The Family Visitation Survey was developed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current DOC visiting system from the visitor’s perspective. DOC researchers visited all institutions and surveyed family members during and after visits. Differences among institutions will be recognized in this report. The Family Visitation Survey includes questions around the following areas: · Facility services · Transportation (distance traveled by family and friends) · Customer service of staff · Agency related Information · Phone and mail systems · Visiting alternatives · Children Details: Salem, OR: The Department, 2009. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 11, 2016 at: https://www.oregon.gov/doc/RESRCH/docs/visitation_study_200910.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: https://www.oregon.gov/doc/RESRCH/docs/visitation_study_200910.pdf Shelf Number: 147320 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesVisitation |
Author: White, Jordyn Title: Improving Collection of Indicators of Criminal Justice System System Involvement in Population Health Data Programs: Proceedings of a Workshop Summary: In the U.S. criminal justice system in 2014, an estimated 2.2 million people were in incarcerated or under correctional supervision on any given day, and another 4.7 million were under community supervision, such as probation or parole. Among all U.S. adults, 1 in 31 is involved with the criminal justice system, many of them having had recurring encounters. The ability to measure the effects of criminal justice involvement and incarceration on health and health disparities has been a challenge, due largely to limited and inconsistent measures on criminal justice involvement and any data on incarceration in health data collections. The presence of a myriad of confounding factors, such as socioeconomic status and childhood disadvantage, also makes it hard to isolate and identify a causal relationship between criminal justice involvement and health. The Bureau of Justice Statistics collects periodic health data on the people who are incarcerated at any given time, but few national-level surveys have captured criminal justice system involvement for people previously involved in the system or those under community supervision—nor have they collected systematic data on the effects that go beyond the incarcerated individuals themselves. In March 2016 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop meant to assist the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and Office of the Minority Health (OMH) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in identifying measures of criminal justice involvement that will further their understanding of the socioeconomic determinants of health. Participants investigated the feasibility of collecting criminal justice experience data with national household-based health surveys. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. Details: Washington, DC: national Academies Press, 2016. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 20, 2016 at: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24633/improving-collection-of-indicators-of-criminal-justice-system-involvement-in-population-health-data-programs Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24633/improving-collection-of-indicators-of-criminal-justice-system-involvement-in-population-health-data-programs Shelf Number: 147785 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesHealth Care Mental HealthSocioeconomic Conditions and Crime |
Author: Bradshaw, Daragh Title: "Family Links": Evaluation Report Summary: 1. Introduction In partnership with the Irish Prison Service, the Parents Plus Charity, Bedford Row Family Agency and the Irish Penal Reform Trust, the Childhood Development Initiative commenced the implementation of "Family Links", a system of formal and informal supports for fathers in Limerick prison and their families. Within funding from the Katherine Howard Foundation (KHF) and the Community Foundation of Ireland (CFI), these supports, here called the Family Links Initiative, can be taken to mark a sea-change in the way in which the Prison Service views and hopes to work with families affected by imprisonment. These supports include: Changes in visiting arrangements Parenting education for families Officer Training in communication and child protection issues Designated Family Liaison Officer's (FLO's) amongst prison officers. The following report is an evaluation of the pilot of the intervention implemented in Limerick Prison from October 2014 to March 2016. Details: Dublin: Childhood Development Initiative, 2017. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 6, 2017 at: http://edepositireland.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/79560/Final_Family_Links_Evaluation_Report_January_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2017 Country: Ireland URL: http://edepositireland.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/79560/Final_Family_Links_Evaluation_Report_January_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 141357 Keywords: Child ProtectionChildren of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFamily Engagement |
Author: Scott, Mindy E. Title: An Experimental Evaluation of a Family Strengthening Intervention to Enhance Post-release Adjustment for Reentering Fathers and Improve Child Well-Being Summary: In 2009, the National Institute of Justice awarded Child Trends a grant to conduct an experimental evaluation of the Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14 (SFP) for fathers returning from prison. The SFP is a seven-session intervention aimed at improving family relationships, parenting skills, and social and life skills among youth ages 10 to 14, and has been found to be effective among low-income families. However, this intervention has not been evaluated with a reentering population. The current evaluation focused on assessing the impact of adding a family-focused intervention to existing reentry services for fathers residing in the Midwestern part of the United States that traditionally focus on job training and economic stability. Paternal incarceration has been found to have negative consequences for children at all developmental stages, resulting in negative emotional and behavioral functioning with implications for long-term well-being and achievement, as well as a higher risk of criminality. Despite growing evidence of the negative implications of parental incarceration for both children and parents and the challenges associated with prisoner reentry, few family-focused reentry programs have been rigorously evaluated. This study addresses this important gap in the scientific knowledge by testing the impacts of a family strengthening intervention for reentering fathers and their children. This report presents key findings from the evaluation including information on the demographics of the families in the program, the program's implementation and effectiveness, and recommendations for improving future family strengthening programs for reentering fathers and their families. Details: Final report submitted to the National Institute of Justice, 2016. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 7, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250568.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250568.pdf Shelf Number: 146412 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFamily ProgramsParenting Programs Prisoner Reentry |
Author: Haskins, Anna R. Title: Schools as Surveilling Institutions? Paternal Incarceration, System Avoidance, and Parental Involvement in Schooling Summary: Parents play important roles in their children's lives, and parental involvement in elementary schooling in particular is meaningful for a range of child outcomes. Given the increasing number of school-aged children with incarcerated parents, this study explores the ways paternal incarceration is associated with mothers' and fathers' reports of home- and school-based involvement in schooling. Using Fragile Families Study data, findings suggest that a father's incarceration inhibits his school- and home-based involvement in schooling, while associations for maternal involvement are weaker. Results are robust to alternative specifications of incarceration that address concerns about selection and unobserved heterogeneity. Findings also hold when teachers' reports are substituted, and across levels of father-child contact. Lastly, a test of the system avoidance mechanism is conducted, and results suggest it partially explains reductions in school involvement for fathers following incarceration. Given the reoccurring interest in the interconnection between families and schools and how this translates into success, this study suggests that paternal incarceration is associated with lower parental involvement in schooling and highlights the role of system avoidance in this association. Attachment to social institutions like schools is quite consequential, and this work highlights another way mass incarceration influences social life in the US. Details: Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, Department of Sociology, 2017. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Fragile Families Working Paper WP17-02-FF: Accessed April 12, 2017 at: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP17-02-FF.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://crcw.princeton.edu/workingpapers/WP17-02-FF.pdf Shelf Number: 144816 Keywords: Children of PrisonersEducationFamilies of InmatesParenting |
Author: Nelson-Dusek, Stephanie Title: Look Up and Hope: Final Evaluation Report Summary: Since its founding in 1896, Volunteers of America has supported and empowered America's most vulnerable populations, including those returning from prison. The past several decades have seen a particularly staggering rise in the growth of mothers affected by incarceration. Between 1991 and midyear 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that the number of mothers in federal and state prisons had increased 122 percent. During the same period, the number of children with mothers in prison had more than doubled, rising to almost 150,000 children nationwide. To address this issue, Volunteers of America launched Look Up and Hope, an innovative initiative that works with the whole family - mother, caregiver, and child - to improve the lives of those affected by maternal incarceration. Over the past five years, Wilder Research has evaluated Look Up and Hope to determine the impact that the program has on families. This final evaluation report illustrates the successes and challenges of those participating in the program. Successes - Strengthened families: After participating in Look Up and Hope, families appear to have stronger connections - meaning increased quantity and quality of contact between mothers, children, and caregivers. For example, 61 percent of children were either living with their mother or had increased contact with her, and 60 percent were reported to have an improved relationship with their mother. - Positive school outcomes: The majority of school-aged children (6+ years old) either increased or maintained their grades, attendance, and behavior. Most prominently, nearly four in ten (37%) children had improved their grade point average by their follow-up assessment, according to family coaches. - Healthy children and caregivers: Overall, the children and caregivers served by the program were relatively healthy. The majority of children (61%) were reported to be in good health at both their baseline and follow-up assessments, and family coaches assessed nearly all children (94%) and caregivers (93%) to have their basic needs met. - Improved parenting skills: Nearly all (97%) of the mothers who received parenting education or training showed improved knowledge of parenting skills. - Improved employment status for mothers: The majority of mothers with available follow-up data experienced a change in employment status from baseline to follow-up. For those who did, over four in ten went from unemployment to either full-time or part-time employment. In addition to the annual report, Wilder Research conducted a Social Return on Investment (SROI) study to estimate some of the potential long-term cost savings that the Look Up and Hope program could eventually provide to society. The study found that, even if the only benefits the program produced were improved long-term outcomes for some participating children (e.g., avoidance of out-of-home placements and school failures), the net cost savings to society could be as much as $48,495 per child. This represents a potential return on investment of $14.31 for every dollar invested. The full SROI (including the limitations of the analysis) is appended. Details: St. Paul, MN: Wilder Research, 2016. 144p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 28, 2017 at: https://www.wilder.org/Wilder-Research/Publications/Studies/Strengthening%20Families%20Impacted%20by%20Incarceration%20-%20Evaluation%20of%20Volunteers%20of%20America%20Programs/Look%20Up%20and%20Hope%20Final%20Evaluation%20Report,%20Full%20Report.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.wilder.org/Wilder-Research/Publications/Studies/Strengthening%20Families%20Impacted%20by%20Incarceration%20-%20Evaluation%20of%20Volunteers%20of%20America%20Programs/Look%20Up%20and%20Hope%20Final%20Evaluation%20R Shelf Number: 146447 Keywords: Children of PrisonersCost-Benefit AnalysisFamilies of InmatesFemale OffendersParentingPrisoner ReentryVolunteers in criminal Justice |
Author: Digard, Leon Title: Closing the Distance: The Impact of Video Visits in Washington State Prisons Summary: Research has shown that continued connection to family and friends is a critical factor in incarcerated people's successful post-prison outcomes. Because many prisons around the country are in remote locations, far from the communities where the majority of incarcerated people live, in-person visits present often insurmountable logistical and financial challenges. For corrections officials looking to keep those in prison in touch with those in the community, video visiting offers a new route. Given its ability to bridge physical separation, this technology lends itself to addressing the difficulties incarcerated people and their loved ones in the community face to keep in touch. In 2016, the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) published a national study of state corrections systems' adoption of video telephony as a way to visit incarcerated people. The study found that many state prison systems were weary of adopting video visiting, given security concerns and implementation costs. One early adopter of the technology was the Washington State Department of Corrections, which introduced video visiting using computers in its prisons in 2014. The current study examines the impact of video visiting in Washington on incarcerated people's in-prison behavior and analyzes their experience of the service. The principle finding was that using the service had a positive impact on the number of in-person visits the video visit users received. In at least one significant sense, the findings follow what we know about the digital divide: Younger people tended to adopt the new technology more than older people. And video visit users also had the most in-person visits both before and after introduction of the service, suggesting that those with strong social bonds tend to sustain them in as many ways as possible. Vera's researchers found no significant correlation between video visiting and people's in-prison behavior, as measured by the number of infractions they committed during the period under study. Overall, the analysis drew a sobering big picture: Nearly half of the people in Washington's prisons do not have visitors of any kind. And those who do don't have many. One factor was constant across sub-groups: The distance from home had a negative effect on visiting. Travel is expensive and time-consuming; video calls, while cheaper, cost more than a lot of people can spend and are rife with technical glitches. Those who used the service despite its costs and limitations told poignant stories of its benefits: the opportunity for parents and children to bond; the possibility for people in prison to show their families and friends that they are doing well; the chance to talk in a setting less stressful than a prison. Given the importance of sustained human ties for people reentering the community from prison, it behooves corrections officials and policymakers to devote ongoing attention to promoting successful family and community ties while reducing the factors that strain these vital connections. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2017. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2017 at: https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/closing-the-distance/legacy_downloads/The-Impact-of-Video-Visits-on-Washington-State-Prisons.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/closing-the-distance/legacy_downloads/The-Impact-of-Video-Visits-on-Washington-State-Prisons.pdf Shelf Number: 146795 Keywords: Families of Inmates Prison Visits Prisoners Video TechnologyVisitation |
Author: Farmer, Michael (Lord Farmer) Title: The Importance of Strengthening Prisoners' Family Ties to Prevention Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime Summary: The Secretary of State commissioned this Review to investigate how supporting men in prison in England and Wales to engage with their families, can reduce reoffending and assist in addressing the intergenerational transmission of crime (a landmark study found that 63% of prisoners' sons went on to offend themselves ) as part of the Government's urgently-needed reform agenda. The Ministry of Justice's own research shows that, for a prisoner who receives visits from a partner or family member, the odds of reoffending are 39% lower than for prisoners who had not received such visits. Supportive relationships with family members and significant others give meaning and all important motivation to other strands of rehabilitation and resettlement activity. As one prisoner told me, 'If I don't see my family I will lose them, if I lose them what have I got left?' Yet the unacceptable inconsistency of work that helps prisoners to maintain and strengthen these relationships across the estate shows it is not yet mainstream in offender management in the same way as employment and education. Family work should always be seen and referred to alongside these two rehabilitation activities as the third leg of the stool that brings stability and structure to prisoners' lives, particularly when they leave prison. That is why the overarching conclusion of my Review is that good family relationships are indispensable for delivering the Government's far-reaching plans across all the areas outlined in their white paper on Prison Safety and Reform, published in November 2016. If prisons are truly to be places of reform, we cannot ignore the reality that a supportive relationship with at least one person is indispensable to a prisoner's ability to get through their sentence well and achieve rehabilitation. It is not only family members who can provide these and, wherever family relationships are mentioned, it should be assumed that other significant and supportive relationships are also inferred. Consistently good family work, which brings men face-to-face with their enduring responsibilities to the family left in the community, is indispensable to the rehabilitation culture we urgently need to develop in our penal system and has to be integral to the changes sought. It helps them forge a new identity for themselves, an important precursor to desistance from crime, based on being a good role model to their children, a caring husband, partner and friend and a reliable provider through legal employment. However, responsibilities are not discharged in a vacuum. Families need to be willing and able to engage with the rehabilitation process, so harnessing the resource of good family relationships must be a golden thread running through the processes of all prisons, as well as in the implementation of all themes of the white paper. Details: London: Ministry of Justice, 2017. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2017 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636619/farmer-review-report.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/636619/farmer-review-report.pdf Shelf Number: 146878 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesIntergenerational CrimePrison VisitsPrisoner RehabilitationRecidivismReoffendingVisitation |
Author: Andersen, Lars Hojsgaard Title: Assortative Mating and the Intergenerational Transmission of Delinquency Summary: Research on the intergenerational transmission of delinquency tends to emphasize the strong association between fathers' involvement with the criminal justice system and sons' behavioral (i.e. delinquent) response. But the father-son association in delinquency is, however, not the only mechanism through which delinquency may travel across generations. Even though female rates of delinquency are generally low (even for women who experienced parental contact with the criminal justice system when they were girls) women could transmit delinquency across generations through their choice of partner. This paper uses administrative data on three generations in Denmark to show that assortative mating - the nonrandom selection of partners with similar characteristics - indeed make women just as likely as men to transmit delinquency across generations. Details: Copenhagen: ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit, 2017. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Study Paper 119: Accessed August 28, 2017 at: http://www.rockwoolfonden.dk/app/uploads/2017/06/STUDY-PAPER-119-assortative-mating-WEB-1.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: http://www.rockwoolfonden.dk/app/uploads/2017/06/STUDY-PAPER-119-assortative-mating-WEB-1.pdf Shelf Number: 146904 Keywords: Antisocial Behavior At-Risk Youth Children of Prisoners Families of InmatesIntergenerational Transmission |
Author: Andersen, Lars Hojsgaard Title: The Impact of Paternal Incarceration on Boys' Delinquency: A New Method for Adjusting for Model-Driven Bias Summary: Existing research is likely to have underestimated the mediating role of confounders, such as abilities, for the association between the delinquency of fathers and sons. Measures of sons' delinquency are often dichotomous, indicating whether a son experiences incarceration, for example, and scholars of criminology often apply nonlinear probability models to analyze such outcomes. But in so doing, we show, scholars involuntarily make their estimates vulnerable to model-driven bias. In this paper, we introduce to scholars of criminology a recent advance in the modeling of nonlinear probability models, the "KHB method", which corrects for model-driven bias. We use data from the NLSY97 to illustrate that existing strategies for estimating the impact of paternal incarceration on son's delinquency when mediating factors are taken into account produce biased estimates, and we use high quality registry data from Denmark to show that this is true even in administrative data and across length of incarceration. We also present and discuss the relationship between delinquency and abilities among sons, by paternal incarceration experience and by country, thereby adding to the burgeoning research on uneven consequences of paternal incarceration for children. Details: Copenhagen: ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit, 2017. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Study Paper No. 120: Accessed August 28, 2017 at: http://www.rockwoolfonden.dk/app/uploads/2017/06/STUDY-PAPER-120-the-impact-of-paternal-incarceration-WEB.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: http://www.rockwoolfonden.dk/app/uploads/2017/06/STUDY-PAPER-120-the-impact-of-paternal-incarceration-WEB.pdf Shelf Number: 146905 Keywords: At-Risk YouthChildren of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesIntergenerational Transmission |
Author: Mumby, Lauren Title: Prison voicemail: an initial evaluation Summary: The UK prison population currently stands at just under 86,000 (Ministry of Justice, 2017) and the average cost per prisoner is approximately L35,000 per year (Ministry of Justice, 2013). The acknowledged reoffending rate for adults released from custody is 44.1% (Ministry of Justice, 2017b) with reoffending estimated to cost in excess of L80,000 per offender (De Las Casas et al, 2011). In times of austerity, the Ministry of Justice is under pressure to reduce number of prisoners and reduce offending and reoffending. Added to the financial costs, imprisonment is often a traumatic time for those imprisoned, and their families. In 2016, 119 self-inflicted deaths were recorded in prisons in England and Wales, a record high; there were 37,784 incidents of self-harm, an increase of 23% from the previous year (Ministry of Justice 2017c). A significant factor related to suicide and selfharm in custody is family ties. Prisoners who have attempted suicide have been found to miss their families more and to have reduced contact with them (Liebling, 1992). The pains of imprisonment thesis (Sykes, 1958) argues that prison often places significant strain on personal relationships resulting from the physical separation and emotional trauma resulting from, often sudden, separation. A failure to maintain family relationships can lead to increased emotional instability during imprisonment and limited social ties for release (Adams, 1992; Cochran, 2013). This may manifest in further negative behaviours inside prison such as violence and general misconduct (Burnett and Maruna, 2004). Conversely, familial attachments and contact during prison sentences have been reported as crucial for helping people in custody cope with the pressures of prison life, such as the feelings of isolation associated with imprisonment (Agnew, 1992); can contribute towards decreased misconduct whilst in prison (Maruna, 2001); and provide support and hope for release (e.g. Agnew, 1992; Rocque et al, 2013). Family ties provide a sense of belonging, security and happiness (De Las Casas et al, 2011). Desistance literature also reports that there is a vital role in family bonds for reducing reoffending (Sampson and Laub, 1993). More specifically, men who maintained contact with their children during imprisonment, demonstrated improved resettlement outcomes (Visher, 2013). Prisoners who improved their family relationships during their sentence resulted in lower levels of reoffending, higher levels of employment and lower levels of drug use on release than those who did not improve relationships (Brunton-Smith and McCarthy, 2016). Identifying opportunities to maintain and strengthen family relationships while a person is incarcerated may, therefore have a significant contribution to improving safety in prisons, limiting reoffending and aiding resettlement. Families themselves also suffer as a result of imprisonment. Families have to cope with practical, financial and emotional consequences which can subsequently have a further impact on relationships. Loss of income, isolation, relationship deterioration and extra childcare commitments can increase the sense of loss and hopelessness experienced by families (Loucks, 2004; Murray, 2005; Codd, 2007). Loss of income is exacerbated by increased expenditure on visits, telephone calls and sending money to imprisoned relatives (Braman and Wood, 2003). Furthermore, it is estimated that 160,000 children in the UK are affected by parental imprisonment (Social Exclusion Unit, 2007) and they can suffer a range of problems during the incarceration period including depression, aggression, eating problems, sleep problems and school related issues (Boswell et al, 2002). However, increasing family contact is thought to moderate these effects. For example, maintaining family ties has been found to increase the resilience of children (Garmezy and Rutter, 1983). It is clear that maintaining and improving family ties while a person is imprisoned can have a significant impact on both the prisoner and their family with regard to increasing safety, improving resettlement, reducing the effects on the family and ultimately decreasing recidivism. Despite this, prisoners have limited means to keep in contact with their families. They can receive visits but this process is often fraught with challenges for those visiting such as distance to travel to the prison, employment commitments, poor staff attitudes and difficulties in accessing information (Codd, 2007). They can send and receive letters by post or e-mail, if they are sufficiently literate. They can make phone calls, but these are limited to certain times of the day when prisoners are allowed outside their cells, often resulting in queues for the limited number of available phones. The majority of prisoners have no legitimate access to mobile telecommunications and information technology that dominates personal communication in the community (Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, PPO, 2014). While the PPO calls upon all prisons to support family ties while still ensuring security and public protection (PPO, 2014), family and friends are still unable to make a simple telephone call to the imprisoned person. Alongside this, it has been widely publicised that there is decreased staffing and resource levels within UK prisons (e.g. The Howard League, 2016) both of which impact negatively on phone access. Prison Voicemail It is against this backdrop of complex prison challenges that the social start-up, Prison Voicemail, has emerged as a potentially significant moderator for these issues. Details: Lincoln, UK: University of Lincoln, 2017. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 2, 2017 at: http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/28301/1/28301%20Prison%20Voicemail%20report%20Final%2031%20July%202017%20for%20PDF.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/28301/1/28301%20Prison%20Voicemail%20report%20Final%2031%20July%202017%20for%20PDF.pdf Shelf Number: 147013 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesPrisoner CommunicationsPrisoners |
Author: McCormick, Amanda V. Title: In the Best Interests of the Child: Strategies for Recognizing and Supporting Canada's At-Risk Population of Children with Incarcerated Parents Summary: Children whose parents are incarcerated have been acknowledged internationally as a vulnerable population facing serious challenges. In 2011, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child convened a Day of General Discussion on Children with Incarcerated Parents during which it was stressed that the best interests of children must be considered throughout the criminal justice system processing of their parent (Robertson, 2012). Although Canada is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children of criminally incarcerated parents are an invisible population in Canada. As official statistics do not appear to be consistently collected in Canada, the size of this at-risk population is currently unknown. However, given an increasing rate of pre-trial detention and incarceration of women, Aboriginal people, and foreign-born persons in Canada (Babooram, 2008; Sapers, 2013), many of whom are parents, the size of the affected population of children is likely growing. This report is the result of a project assessing the available policies, programs, and practices concerning children with incarcerated parents. The information collected for this report was largely collated from literature reviews, as well as consultations conducted with government and nongovernmental agencies across Canada. In addition, feedback gathered from a day-long expert working group on children with incarcerated parents conducted by the UFV Centre for Safety Schools and Communities in December 2013 was integrated into the final report. Details: Abbotsford, BC: Centre for Public Safety and Criminal Justice Research, University of the Fraser Valley, 2015. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 4, 2017 at: https://cjr.ufv.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Children-with-Incarcerated-Parents_Amended.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Canada URL: https://cjr.ufv.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Children-with-Incarcerated-Parents_Amended.pdf Shelf Number: 148038 Keywords: Child WelfareChildren of PrisonersFamilies of Inmates |
Author: Human Impact Partners Title: Keeping Kids and Parents Together: A Healthier Approach to Sentencing in Massachusetts Summary: More than 800,000 parents are incarcerated across the US - a common practice that tears families apart, hurts children, and harms the health of entire communities. In this report, we evaluate the health and equity impacts of Massachusetts Senate Bill S770. If passed, this bill would expand the ability to set community-based sentences for parents. Community-based sentencing is a healthier and fiscally responsible alternative. The benefits of allowing incarcerated parents to stay with or have more contact with their children are tremendous. Parents are more likely to succeed at treatment for substance use disorders and less likely to return to prison. By staying connected with their parents, children have the opportunity to experience healthy development and attachment, which contributes to good mental health and fewer behavioral issues. Community-based sentencing also decreases costs to prisons and jails and keeps parents connected to the workforce. Youth of color are more likely to experience their parent getting locked up. As a result of the racial inequities in the criminal legal system in the US, Black children are nine times more likely and Latinx children are three times more likely than White children to have a parent in prison. Kids with incarcerated parents are at risk of facing a variety of physical, mental, and behavioral health issues throughout the rest of their lives as a direct result of separation from their parent due to incarceration. In fact, this type of child-parent separation is classified as a specific type of trauma: an adverse childhood experience (ACE). Across Massachusetts, about 5,665 children are separated from a parent due to incarceration. Mothers and grandmothers bear the burden at home. When a father is incarcerated, his children's mother remains as the primary caretaker 90% of the time. When a mother is incarcerated, her children are often displaced from their homes and frequently placed in the care of their grandmother. In both of these situations, mothers and grandmothers face the additional financial burden and emotional toll of a single parent home. Details: Oakland, CA: Human Impact Partners, 2017. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 10, 2017 at: https://humanimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/KeepingMAKidsParentsTogetherHealthier_2017.09.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://humanimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/KeepingMAKidsParentsTogetherHealthier_2017.09.pdf Shelf Number: 148134 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationChildren of PrisonersCommunity-Based SentencingFamilies of InmatesFamily Engagement |
Author: Kotova, Anna Title: Justice and prisoners' families Summary: Previous research has shown that prisoners' families in the UK are greatly affected by imprisonment: financially, socially, emotionally and practically. Despite an ever-growing body of literature, however, the topic of prisoners' families has not yet become one of the key themes in criminology and the sociology of punishment. Criminal justice policy has also failed to engage with the needs of prisoners' families, with criminal justice discourse being largely focused on justice as defined by punishments and deserts. Building on the concept of social justice, this paper argues that a broader understanding of justice within criminal justice is sorely needed if social justice is to be achieved for prisoners' families. It then discusses four types of injustices that are highlighted by thinking of prisoners' families through a social justice lens. It concludes that to do justice for prisoners' families, there is a need to broaden the meaning of justice in criminal justice, and discuss social justice and the collateral consequences of imprisonment. Details: London: The Howard League for Penal Reform, 2014. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Howard League What is Justice? Working Papers 5/2014: Accessed November 28, 2017 at: http://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/HLWP_5_2014_2.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/HLWP_5_2014_2.pdf Shelf Number: 148519 Keywords: Children of Prisoners Families of Inmates |
Author: Western, Bruce Title: Formerly-Incarcerated Parents and their Children Summary: The negative effects of incarceration on child well-being are often linked to the economic insecurity of formerly incarcerated parents. Researchers caution, however, that the effects of parental incarceration may be small in the presence of multiple partner fertility and other family complexity. Despite these claims, few studies directly observe either economic insecurity or the full extent of family complexity. We study parent-child relationships with a unique data set that includes detailed information about economic insecurity and family complexity among parents just released from prison. We find that stable private housing, more than income, is associated with close and regular contact between parents and children. Formerly-incarcerated parents are less likely to regularly see their children in contexts of multiple partner fertility and in the absence of supportive family relationships. Significant housing and family effects are estimated even after controlling for drug use and crime which are themselves negatively related to parental contact. The findings point to the constraints of material insecurity and family complexity on the social support provided by formerly incarcerated parents to their children. Details: Cambridge, MA: Department of Sociology, Harvard University, 2017. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2018 at: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/brucewestern/files/formerly-incarcerated_parents_and_their_children.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/brucewestern/files/formerly-incarcerated_parents_and_their_children.pdf Shelf Number: 149070 Keywords: Child WelfareChildren of PrisonersEx-OffendersFamilies of InmatesPrisoner Reentry |
Author: Gill, Owen Title: She just cries and cries: Case studies of Devon families with a father in prison Summary: This report is based on detailed interviewing of 15 Devon families where the father is currently in prison or in two cases where he has already returned home. It is part of a wider consultation exercise in which Barnardo's South West has set out to talk to families of prisoners in Bristol, Devon and Cornwall. The purpose of this consultation is to inform our new ECHO (Empowering the Children of Offenders) services in Bristol and Devon. These are community based services which aim to support the children of prisoners. The purpose is also a wider one of influencing other agencies about the needs of these children. The context of the report is that the children of prisoners are a very large but 'invisible' group. Government estimates indicate approximately 160,000 children at any one time have a parent in prison. There is no robust information at either a national or local authority level about where these children live and very few local authorities take their needs into account when planning services. This is in spite of national research showing that the children of offenders are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems and have an increased likelihood of becoming offenders themselves. Details: Ilford, UK: Barnardo's, 2009. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed February 22, 2018 at: http://www.barnardos.org.uk/she-just-cries-and-cries-2009.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.barnardos.org.uk/she-just-cries-and-cries-2009.pdf Shelf Number: 149225 Keywords: Children of Prisoners Families of Inmates |
Author: Canada. Office of the Correctional Investigator Title: In the Dark: An Investigation of Death in Custody Information Sharing and Disclosure Practices in Federal Corrections Summary: In 20150-16 there were 65 deaths in federal custody, the majority (65%) of which were attributed to 'natural' causes. When an inmate dies in custody or sustains serious bodily injury, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is obligated to "forthwith" investigate the matter (s. 19 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA)) and report to the Commissioner of Corrections. The report from these investigations is also shared with the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI). The purpose of investigating a death in custody is to possibly prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. The findings and recommendations from these investigations can be used to make improvements in organizational and institutional policy and practice. Despite the statutory requirement to investigate all fatalities, there is no legal obligation requiring CSC to openly or proactively share the findings of these investigations publicly or even with next of kin or designated family members of the deceased. Regardless of how an inmate dies in custody (natural cause, suicide, murder, overdose, accident), it is reasonable to expect that family members would want to know what happened, whether the care provided was adequate, or if anything more could have been done to prevent the death. This investigation examines CSC's information sharing and disclosure practices with family members following a death in custody. As the investigation finds, families often face a difficult and protracted process to access information following the death of a family member in federal custody. Families (or next of kin) continue to contact the Office of the Correctional Investigator requesting assistance and advice in accessing information from CSC about a family member who died while in federal custody. They have identified difficulties and barriers, including outright refusal, in attempting to access this information from CSC, particularly with respect to the immediate circumstances and precipitating events leading up to the death of their family member. The Office raised concerns about the lack of information provided to families by CSC in its 2012/13 Annual Report. The Office again raised this issue in its investigation into CSC's Mortality Review Process (December 2013). In that report, the Office recommended that: "In the interest of transparency and openness, upon request mortality reports in their entirety should be shared, in a timely manner, with the designated family member(s)." In response, the Service largely disregarded the issues and concerns behind the recommendation and simply restated that: "CSC works with the designated family member to assist the family following a death in custody. Mortality Review Reports are shared with the family upon the family's request and in accordance with privacy and other legislation." The refusal, denial or delays to proactively share information with next of kin often leads them to suspect the worse, feel suspicious or apprehensive about what may have transpired behind bars and impedes their ability to pursue legal remedies. In cases of in-custody death (or serious bodily injury), openness, transparency, accountability, compassion, timeliness and respect are important organizational and humanitarian principles that should weigh positively in the decision to release as much information as possible as it becomes available. Withholding information leads to unnecessary frustration and distrust and denies families closure as they grieve their loss. Details: Ottawa: Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2016. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 28, 2018 at: http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/rpt/pdf/oth-aut/oth-aut20160802-eng.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Canada URL: http://www.oci-bec.gc.ca/cnt/rpt/pdf/oth-aut/oth-aut20160802-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 149285 Keywords: Deaths in Custody Families of InmatesInmate Deaths |
Author: Human Impact Partners Title: Keeping Kids and Parents Together: A Healthier Approach to Sentencing in Tennessee Summary: More than 800,000 parents are incarcerated across the US - a common practice that tears families apart, hurts children, and harms the health of entire communities. In this report, we evaluate the health and equity impacts of Tennessee House Bill 0825 and Senate Bill 0919. If passed, these bills would expand the ability to set community-based sentences for parents. Community-based sentencing is a healthier and fiscally responsible alternative. The benefits of allowing incarcerated parents to stay with or have more contact with their children are tremendous. Parents are more likely to succeed at treatment for substance use disorders and less likely to return to prison. By staying connected with their parents, children have the opportunity to experience healthy development and attachment, which contributes to good mental health and fewer behavioral issues. Community-based sentencing also decreases costs to prisons and jails and keeps parents connected to the workforce. Youth of color are more likely to experience their parent getting locked up. As a result of the racial inequities in the criminal legal system in the US, Black children are nine times more likely and Latino/a children are three times more likely than White children to have a parent in prison. Kids with incarcerated parents are at risk of facing a variety of physical, mental, and behavioral health issues throughout the rest of their lives as a direct result of separation from their parent due to incarceration. In fact, this type of child-parent separation is classified as a specific type of trauma: an adverse childhood experience (ACE). Across Tennessee, about 19,198 children are separated from a parent due to incarceration. In Tennessee, about 1 of every 10 children has had an incarcerated parent. Mothers and grandmothers bear the burden at home. When a father is incarcerated, his children's mother remains as the primary caregiver 90% of the time. When a mother is incarcerated, her children are often displaced from their homes and frequently placed in the care of their grandmother. In both of these situations, mothers and grandmothers face the additional financial burden and emotional toll of a single parent home. Incarceration is harmful to individual and community health. Prison and jail environments are not conducive to family visits. In addition, most mothers and fathers in state and federal prisons are held over 100 miles from their homes, creating significant barriers for kids to visit their parents. Incarcerated parents who aren't able to maintain a connection with their children are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and hopelessness, be re-incarcerated, and lose parental rights. In communities targeted by mass incarceration, the loss of working adults and parents to jails and prisons fuels the cycle of poverty without reducing crime or increasing public safety. Alternative sentencing holds parents accountable and keeps families together. Research shows that community-based sentencing creates a supportive environment where parents can heal and be held accountable for the consequences of their conviction - while staying with or near their kids. These sentencing alternatives can also properly address substance use, mental health issues, and homelessness, instead of criminalizing behaviors that merit public health interventions. These community-based alternatives do not have to be residential, but they do have to be funded external to the criminal legal system. This report highlights Tennessee programs that could serve parents sentenced to community alternatives under this proposed legislation. Details: Oakland, CA: Human Impact Partners, 2018. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2018 at: https://humanimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/HIP_PrimaryCare-TN-Report.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://humanimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/HIP_PrimaryCare-TN-Report.pdf Shelf Number: 149611 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationChildren of Prisoners Community-Based SentencingFamilies of Inmates Family Engagement |
Author: Human Impact Partners Title: Keeping Kids and Parents Together: A Healthier Approach to Sentencing in Louisiana Summary: More than 800,000 parents are incarcerated across the US - a common practice that tears families apart, hurts children, and harms the health of entire communities. In this report, we evaluate the health and equity impacts of Primary Caretaker legislation in the state of Louisiana. If passed, this legislation would expand the ability to set community-based sentences for parents. Community-based sentencing is a healthier and fiscally responsible alternative. The benefits of allowing incarcerated parents to stay with or have more contact with their children are tremendous. Parents are more likely to succeed at treatment for substance use disorders and less likely to return to prison. By staying connected with their parents, children have the opportunity to experience healthy development and attachment, which contributes to good mental health and fewer behavioral issues. Community-based sentencing also decreases costs to prisons and jails and keeps parents connected to the workforce. Youth of color are more likely to experience their parent getting locked up. As a result of the racial inequities in the criminal legal system in the US, Black children are nine times more likely and Latinx children are three times more likely than White children to have a parent in prison. Kids with incarcerated parents are at risk of facing a variety of physical, mental, and behavioral health issues throughout the rest of their lives as a direct result of separation from their parent due to incarceration. In fact, this type of child-parent separation is classified as a specific type of trauma: an adverse childhood experience (ACE). Across Louisiana, about 1 in every 12 kids has experienced separation from a parent due to incarceration. Reducing the harm from incarcerating parents is doable in Louisiana. In 2016, about 2,650 parents who are currently incarcerated would have been eligible for this alternative sentencing in Louisiana - potentially keeping them together with their kids while still being held accountable for their actions. In Louisiana, about 1 of every 12 children has had an incarcerated parent. Mothers and grandmothers bear the burden at home. When a father is incarcerated, his children's mother remains as the primary caretaker 90% of the time. When a mother is incarcerated, her children are often displaced from their homes and frequently placed in the care of their grandmother. In both of these situations, mothers and grandmothers face the additional financial burden and emotional toll of a single parent home. Incarceration is harmful to individual and community health. Prison and jail environments are not conducive to family visits. In addition, most mothers and fathers in state and federal prisons are held over 100 miles from their homes, creating significant barriers for kids to visit their parents. Incarcerated parents who aren't able to maintain a connection with their children are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and hopelessness, be re-incarcerated, and lose parental rights. In communities targeted by mass incarceration, the loss of working adults and parents to jails and prisons fuels the cycle of poverty without reducing crime or increasing public safety. Alternative sentencing holds parents accountable and keeps families together. Research shows that community-based sentencing creates a supportive environment where parents can heal and be held accountable for the consequences of their conviction - while staying with their kids. These sentencing alternatives can also properly address substance use, mental health issues, and homelessness, instead of criminalizing behaviors that merit public health interventions. This report highlights Louisiana programs that could serve parents sentenced to community alternatives under this proposed legislation. Details: Oakland, CA: Human Impact Partners, 2018. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2018 at: https://humanimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/HIP_LAcaretakers_2018.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://humanimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/HIP_LAcaretakers_2018.pdf Shelf Number: 149612 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationChildren of Prisoners Community-Based SentencingFamilies of Inmates Family Engagement |
Author: Foster, Rebecca Gillian Title: Half in/half out: exploring the experiences of the families of prisoners in a Scottish prison visitors' centre Summary: The research upon which this thesis is based aims to build on a rich and growing body of work about how imprisonment affects, is practiced by, and structures families with a loved one in prison. It aims to do this by contributing to knowledge on the lived experiences of prison visiting for the families of prisoners, who were until recently largely overlooked in prisons scholarship. In turn, this thesis aims to shed light on families overall experience of the imprisonment of a loved one(s). The research underpinning this thesis involved eliciting the experiences of families, through carrying out ethnographic observation and qualitative interviews in a unique fieldsite, the Visitors Centre at HMP Edinburgh, over a nine-month period (during 2014- 2015). This thesis builds on the literature that documents the many negative effects of imprisonment for the families of those confined, particularly through its exploration of how imprisonment alters the space and time of families. This thesis notes that these myriad negative impacts require considered attention and action. Yet, this thesis also makes a key and critical argument that the experience of imprisonment for many families should be considered within the broader context of their lives. These families lives are often characterised by not only imprisonment(s), but by structural disadvantage, and by the presence and experience of varied and intrusive state interventions. This thesis argues that each of these too are often experienced as imprisoning, and in turn questions whether a focus exclusively on the pains specific to familial imprisonment- in scholarship, policy, and practice- risks encouraging a continuing focus on the prison as both the only cause of, and main site for finding solutions, to family difficulties. Details: Glasgow: School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, 2017. 261p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 7, 2018 at: http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8229/1/2017fosterPhD.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8229/1/2017fosterPhD.pdf Shelf Number: 150073 Keywords: Children of Prisoners Families of Inmates |
Author: Stone, Una B. Title: I'm still your mum: mothering inside and outside prison Summary: In Victoria over the last decade, the rate of female incarceration has continued to rise. This is despite some attempts by government to address recidivism through gender responsive policies and programs. Of specific concern is that the majority of women prisoners are primary carers for their children. Hence, their incarceration splinters the family unit and can perpetuate the intergenerational cycle of offending. This thesis studies the impact of maternal incarceration and the issues associated with reunification of the mother and her children. In particular it examines the issues which mothers face in mothering, both inside and outside prison. The information was gathered from the perspective of those professionals who support mothers with lived prison experience. It examines the daily challenges they face in supporting these mothers. Using purposive sampling, six professionals were selected for interview. Standpoint feminism underpins the research because it is concerned with facilitating change to address political and social structural disadvantage. Labelling theory was also incorporated as it is an important theoretical consideration when examining discrimination of women with lived prison experience. This research demonstrates the multiple marginalisations of mothers in the criminal justice system. It also highlights the limited services available to them inside and outside prison, inadequate funding for services and inexperienced case managers both inside and outside prison. The research shows that little has changed in almost fifty years; the typical profile of the mothers' show they still come from backgrounds characterised by disadvantage (such as poverty, homelessness, and physical abuse) and their offences are mostly non-violent. Furthermore, core problems that mothers face in regaining custody of their children remain the same, which invariably results in a failure for many of them to regain custody. Recommendations from this research include abolishing short custodial sentences, housing prioritisation for mothers exiting prison, and policy reform to prioritise funding for drug rehabilitation services both inside prison and in the community to ensure continuity of support post-release. Details: Melbourne: RMIT University, 2013. 171p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 9, 2018 at: https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:160547 Year: 2013 Country: Australia URL: https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:160547 Shelf Number: 150115 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesFemale InmatesFemale PrisonersMothers in Prison |
Author: Ugwudike, Pamela Title: Evaluation of Pact's Supporting Young Parents in Prison Project Summary: The Supporting Young Fathers in Prison (SYFP) project is delivered by Pact Cymru in prisons across Wales. The project advocates on behalf of young fathers in prison and their families. It brokers relevant services, provides therapeutic support, facilitates parenting efficacy, supports efforts to build relationships, and strengthens family ties. Pact Cymru deliver this service through its prison-based Family Engagement Service (FES), and in collaboration with services within the prison and the wider community. Volunteers, Family Engagement Managers, and Family Engagement Coordinators offer one-to-one casework support to the men in prison and their families, refer them to relevant services, deliver parenting programmes, relationship courses and other related courses, help the men maintain contact with family members by organizing extra prison visits in family-friendly settings, and provide additional services to enhance the quality and outcome of prison visits for the men and their families. The SYFP project's primary aim is to help men in prison engage with their families (their partners and children), to reduce the social isolation and traumatic impact of the separation associated with imprisonment. The project supports the men's efforts to maintain contact with their families and build good quality relationships. There is substantial research evidence that maintaining family ties during imprisonment can improve prisoners' behaviour, contribute to order in prison, reduce rates of longer term reoffending, and facilitate successful resettlement (Farmer 2017; HM Inspectorate of Prisons 2014; Markson et al. 2015). The SYFP project also aims to direct parents in prison and their families to relevant services, improve the emotional and mental wellbeing of children affected by parental imprisonment, reduce the risk of intergenerational offending and encourage good practice in the field of family support within the prions and the wider community. An additional aim is to develop good practice in the field of family support work within prisons and evaluate future provision across the prison estate. This report presents the findings of an evaluation of SYFP. Pact Cymru commissioned the evaluation which generated qualitative and quantitative data to assess the quality and impact of service delivery by examining three key themes: - The processes of service delivery - The ways in which service delivery contribute the aforementioned primary aims - How best to develop good practice and evaluate future provision across the prison estate. The evaluation generated data from 50 semi-structured interviews. Pact workers, prison staff and men in three prisons (Prison A, Prison B and Prison C participated in the interviews and family members were also interviewed. In addition, quantitative data generated from prisoners before and after their involvement with the SYFP project were analyzed. Findings reveal that the project is not only considered to be vital by those delivering the project and the service users, it is also viewed as an indispensable service; there is no alternative provision in place within the Prisons visited. So far, the SYFP project has supported men in prison and their families by advocating on their behalf, brokering relevant services, providing therapeutic support, supporting parenting efficacy, building relationships, and strengthening family ties. The key findings of this evaluation are summarized below. - The SYFP project broadens participation by disseminating information about the service in prison wings through volunteers, workers, peer mentors and others delivering the service, and also by displaying information flyers and hosting promotional activities. - The SYFP project delivers its aim of improving the levels and quality of contact between men and prison and their families by organizing extra prison visits in more conducive settings. This is the provision the men and their families access the most. - Men in prison believe that the SYFP project improves the frequency of contact and quality of relationships with their families and strengthens the bonds between them. It also improves their parenting ability, emotional wellbeing and behaviour. - Staff and volunteers delivering the SYFP project provide extensive advocacy services. For example, they liaise with social services, visit schools to advocate on behalf of children affected by parental imprisonment. - The service provides individualized support that is tailored to suit the needs of each parent in prison and his family. This approach is consistent with research which suggests that service users are more likely to engage with, and benefit from individualized services. - Additional support provided by the SYFP project include brokering social welfare support for prisoners and their families. The extant international literature on evidencebased practice and key models of rehabilitation strongly emphasize that brokering access to relevant services can aid the desistance process. - The SYFP project is desistance-focused; its role in strengthening bonds between prisoners and their families can encourage desistance. The desistance research literature emphasises that bonds with non-criminogenic family members promote desistance. - The SYFP project provides opportunities for prisoners and their families to maintain ties and relationships. In doing so, the service aligns itself with research which emphasizes the role of families in supporting resettlement. - The consensus amongst all those who participated in this evaluation is that Supporting Young Fathers in Prison project is an indispensable service and no other agency in the three participating prisons provides similar family support services Details: Southampton, UI: University of Southampton, Department of Sociology, Social policy and Criminology, 2017. 90p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 9, 2018 at: https://www.nicco.org.uk/userfiles/downloads/5ac606fc5f959-dr-pamela-ugwudike-pact-sypp-evaluation-report-2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.nicco.org.uk/userfiles/downloads/5ac606fc5f959-dr-pamela-ugwudike-pact-sypp-evaluation-report-2017.pdf Shelf Number: 150776 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesMale Inmates |
Author: Wainwright, Lucy Title: The Golden Thread: Evaluation of the Pact Helpline for the families of prisoners and people with convictions Summary: Calls to Pact have more than doubled from 4,000 to over 8,000 in the past year, with around one in three families now getting in touch because they are afraid of serious harm coming to their family members in prison. The findings come from a new report by Dr Lucy Wainwright and Paula Harriott for the Prison Reform Trust. The researchers found that: There has been an unprecedented rise in the number of calls from prisoners' families received by the Pact helpline over the course of one year. The nature of the calls has changed and have become more about prisoner safety than ever before. There are higher numbers of 'safeguarding' cases (cases concerning safety of prisoners, including violence, bullying, self-harm and suicide risk), and the trend line suggests the rise will continue. Evidence from the performance reports and interviews with family members point towards a major barrier in communication between families and the Prison System, either in terms of getting a message through initially or in terms of knowing what happens once the message has been passed on. Family members appear not to speak to many people about their loved ones in prison, for fear of judgement. The Pact helpline therefore represents an important source of connection and trust for those who desperately need it. Details: London: Prison Reform Trust, 2018. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 9, 2018 at: https://www.prisonadvice.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=5a85e70c-dca6-4fa7-bd52-097339a7ea3e Year: 2018 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.prisonadvice.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=5a85e70c-dca6-4fa7-bd52-097339a7ea3e Shelf Number: 150787 Keywords: Families of Inmates |
Author: Lindquist, Christine Title: The Experiences of Families during a Father's Incarceration: Descriptive Findings from Baseline Data Collection for the Multi-site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering Summary: The United States has the highest incarceration rate and the most people incarcerated in the world (International Centre for Prison Studies, 2012). Over half of the 2.3 million individuals in U.S. jails and prisons are parents, and in 2006 an estimated 7,476,500 children had a parent who was incarcerated or under correctional supervision (Glaze, 2010; Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). Many fathers in prison are in committed intimate or coparenting relationships, and their incarceration can affect their families both during and after the sentence is served. This report describes the experiences of 1,482 incarcerated fathers and their intimate or coparenting partners. It is based on survey data collected for the impact evaluation of the Multi-site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering (MFS-IP), which includes in-depth, longitudinal interviews in five states (Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York). Although this report uses data collected for the MFS-IP evaluation, the results presented here are not findings about the impact of MFS-IP programming. Rather, the data are used to generate descriptive information on salient characteristics for a large sample of couples separated by incarceration. Because the study sample is based on a selection of competitively selected Office of Family Assistance grantees, it cannot be considered as nationally representative of the prison population as a whole nor of the prison populations in the five selected states. Nevertheless, it provides the most detailed, descriptive portrait to date of incarcerated men who are in intimate or coparenting relationships during their incarceration, and their partners. The study sample of incarcerated men and their female partners was asked about their work and family lives prior to incarceration; their health and well-being during the fathers' incarcerations; and their expectations for reentry, including reunification with each other and their child or children. Survey questions addressed relationship quality, parenting and coparenting, family contact, and the well-being of children and mothers during the fathers' incarcerations. Detailed information about a single "focal child" for each father was obtained. One key contribution of this report is that responses reflect the dual perspectives of both men and their partners during incarceration. Findings from subsequent interview waves at 9, 18, and (for a subset of sites) 34 months after this baseline interview will provide information on later experiences, including reentry, family reunification, and factors associated with reductions in criminal behavior. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families/Office of Family Assistance, 2015. 157p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 16, 2018 at: https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/137556/MFS-IP%20BaselineReport.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://aspe.hhs.gov/system/files/pdf/137556/MFS-IP%20BaselineReport.pdf Shelf Number: 151152 Keywords: Children of PrisonersFamilies of InmatesParenting |
Author: Shlafer, Rebecca J. Title: Parents in Prison and their Minor Children: Comparisons between State and National Estimates Summary: To estimate the number of parents among state prisoners in Minnesota, inmates (N = 2,242) completed a brief survey. More than two-thirds reported having minor children. More women than men reported being a parent; over half reported living with their children before arrest. In a multivariate model, parent gender, residing with children pre-incarceration, and child age predicted interest in parenting programming. The current study yielded a higher prevalence of parental incarceration than national and other state estimates. Findings underscore the importance of documenting the prevalence of parents in prison, and identifying programs and policies to address their needs. Details: St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2017. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 24, 2018 at: https://mn.gov/doc/assets/Parents%20in%20Prison%20and%20their%20Minor%20Children_Comparisons%20between%20State%20and%20National%20Estimates-2018_tcm1089-325644.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://mn.gov/doc/assets/Parents%20in%20Prison%20and%20their%20Minor%20Children_Comparisons%20between%20State%20and%20National%20Estimates-2018_tcm1089-325644.pdf Shelf Number: 153073 Keywords: Children of Prisoners Families of Inmates |
Author: Amighetti, Demalui Title: Costa Rica - Nios y nias con madres y padres encarcelados por delitos de drogas menores no violentos ( 103/5000 Costa Rica - Children with mothers and fathers imprisoned for non-violent minor drug offenses) Summary: This document presents the result of the information gathering process in Costa Rica, within the framework of the research project "Girls and boys with mothers and fathers imprisoned by non-violent drug crimes in Latin America and the Caribbean ". The study was aimed at generate knowledge about the specific impact that imprisonment has on the life of girls, boys and adolescents with adult referents deprived of liberty for crimes minors of drugs. The methodology developed in this study adhered to the shared work guidelines by research teams from different countries and included: data collection quantitative data on people incarcerated for drug-related crimes in the country; the documentary review; the analysis of the current national regulations on childhood, system penitentiary and drug policies; and semi-structured interviews with private women of the freedom for minor crimes related to drugs, relatives in charge of the care of their children and daughters and girls, boys and adolescents with imprisoned parents (NNAPES, from now on1 ). In In total, six interviews were conducted with imprisoned women (one of whom was already at large), five interviews with family caregivers and eleven interviews with NNAPES. All interviews are performed under consent and in environments that were suitable for each person. The fact that they have worked only with women deprived of their liberty obeys different reasons associated with the institutional processes of the Costa Rican penitentiary system and the characteristics of people who are serving time. On the one hand, there are limitations to access different penitentiary centers, especially if it is to conduct interviews. In In particular, in detention centers for men there are greater restrictions to apply for an appointment and stricter entry controls. On the other hand, among women, the fact of being mothers and being incarcerated for a crime related to drugs are two of the situations where actions by public institutions have been prioritized, so that, in Unlike men deprived of their freedom, the generation of information is encouraged and projects of empowerment and social reintegration. The main results of the investigation are aimed at confirming the negative impact that the imprisonment of women mothers has on the physical and emotional integrity of their children and underage daughters. From the perspective of the NNAPES, as well as their mothers and people caregivers, following detention have had a negative impact on their development educational and their physical and mental health. Although in most cases there is contact between the NNAPES and their mothers deprived of freedom, it is threatened by a set of geographic, cultural, material and family factors; this against the lack of protection and institutional neglect by the State. In addition to seeing threatened their right to family coexistence, the NNAPES face the lack of clear and adequate information regarding to the situation of their mothers, the presence of situations of violence at the time of detention, the neglect of the psychological consequences that the new changes in the family, the lag or drop-out of school and the residence in community spaces described as unsafe and dangerous. Details: Church World Service, 2018. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed by May 16, 2019 at: http://www.cwslac.org/nnapes-pdd/docs/PDD-Costa-Rica.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Costa Rica URL: http://www.cwslac.org/nnapes-pdd/docs/PDD-Costa-Rica.pdf Shelf Number: 155872 Keywords: Children of PrisonersDrug OffendersFamilies of InmatesFemale OffendersRights of Children |
Author: Munoz, Luis Alberto Title: Mxico - Nios y nias con madres y padres encarcelados por delitos de drogas menores no violentos (Mexico - Children with mothers and fathers imprisoned for non-violent minor drug offenses) Summary: Problem Statement Throughout Latin America, drug policies have become tougher. In Mexico, particularly, This topic is extremely relevant. Since 2006, a policy to combat drug trafficking that has left thousands dead and disappeared (Aristegui, 2012). In addition, this policy has had various impacts on penal and penitentiary policy: criminalization of consumption (under legal figures such as "possession with intent to marketing "), mass arrests and convictions, violations of due process, restriction of pre-release benefits, among others. Therefore, this policy increased the number of people deprived of liberty for drug offenses. In this sense, it is estimated that, between December 2006 and December 2014, the population held in federal prisons for crimes against health increased 1,200% (WOLA, 2015). At the same time, there is a lack of public policies to deal with the damage caused by this war. has stopped: from assassinations of people outside the conflict in the clashes against the organized crime, even the helplessness of families that have lost a member this battle, whether by death, disappearance or, as far as this study is concerned, the deprivation of liberty (Pardo, 2016). The increase of persons deprived of liberty for drug offenses is very high, which is why wondering how many of those people are fathers or mothers? and, consequently, how many girls, boys and adolescents with imprisoned parents (NNAPES, from now on) 1 there are these crimes? What impact does deprivation of liberty for drug offenses have on NNAPES? of its significant adult referents ?, what has the State done to reduce or cancel this impact and restore the rights of the NNAPES? These questions served as the basis for the realization of this investigation. Background In Mexico, few investigations show the situation of the NNAPES, even less, when It is about NNAPES who do not live together with their parents in custody. Example of it is that, following up on an investigation prepared according to the Day of General Debate of the Committee on the Rights of the Child that, in 2011, addressed the situation of the NNAPES, the Commission of Human Rights of the City of Mexico issued the General Pronouncement: Rights of children and girls, sons and daughters of parents in prison (2013), which focuses on the boys and girls who are born and They grow up in prison with their mothers. Subsequently, the Mexican civil association Office for the Defense of Children's Rights, Together with the National Institute of Criminal Sciences, he published the book Invisible Prisoners: Sons and Daughters of women in seclusion (Griesbach et al., 2015). This study is based on interviews conducted focus groups of women incarcerated in the Women's Social Rehabilitation Center of Santa Martha Acatitla (Mexico City) who live with their sons and daughters; In addition, the staff was interviewed in charge of their care in said institution. This study focuses on the obligations Details: Church World Service, 2018. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2019 at: http://www.cwslac.org/nnapes-pdd/docs/PDD-Mexico.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.cwslac.org/nnapes-pdd/docs/PDD-Mexico.pdf Shelf Number: 155868 Keywords: Children of PrisonersDrug OffendersFamilies of InmatesFemale OffendersRights of the Child |