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“Children with a parent in prison are completely innocent, yet criminal justice policies often put them at great risk of becoming the next generation of prisoners.”
—Pat Nolan, Prison Fellowship vice president, former member of California’s General Assembly and ex-offender
An estimated 1.7 million children in the United States have a father or mother behind prison bars. Even though these children have done nothing wrong, they are frequently stigmatized by shame, poverty and family instability. As a result, these children often suffer poor school performance and behavioral and emotional problems.
Children of Incarcerated Parents: An Action Plan for Federal Policymakers is a report recently published by the Council of State Governments that urges policymakers to act immediately to revise unreasonable corrections practices that harm what are arguably the most at-risk Americans—the children of prisoners.
 In order to protect, encourage and support these children, lawmakers and correctional agencies need to change legislation and corrections policies. Evidence shows that maintaining the child-parent relationship during a parent’s incarceration improves a child’s emotions and behaviors to help keep him or her out of prison. But that relationship becomes impossible when 60 percent of incarcerated parents are housed more than 100 miles away from their previous residence and interstate phone calls cost more than $1 per minute. Compared to the average 10-cents-per-minute cost of most interstate calls for the general public, prison phone rates not only prohibit children’s interaction with their incarcerated parent, but also gouge the poorest of the poor.
The new report, a practical guide for corrections officials and policymakers, recommends broad reforms to the criminal justice system limiting the negative affects of parental incarceration on children and allowing them to become contributing members of society. Specifically, the report recommends changes that would:
- Incarcerate parents no more than 100 miles from their children,
- Reduce excessive phone call rates to keep parents in touch with children,
- Revise severe visitation policies that make it difficult for children to visit incarcerated parents,
- Examine The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) to determine its impact on the termination of incarcerated parents’ relationship with their children after 15 months in foster care, and
- Ensure that needed health care is not withheld from the children of prisoners.
Prison Fellowship has a long-standing commitment to children of incarcerated parents. For 27 years, it has supported families of incarcerated parents through its Angel Tree program, including Christmas gifts, camping and mentoring opportunities. The program links children of prisoners with a local church congregation to help break the intergenerational cycle of crime and bring reconciliation and hope to families split by incarceration.
Since 1982, Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree has delivered Christmas gifts to more than 8 million prisoners’ children nationwide, provided camping experiences to some 40,000 children of prisoners, and mentored some 5,000 prisoners’ children.
Through its criminal justice reform program, Justice Fellowship, the organization will work with the Council of State Governments to help state and federal government officials implement an action plan to make sure the needs of these children are addressed.
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