Public Defense

Saving the next generation

By Gideon

Where We Live, NPR’s local daily radio show dedicated the entirety of today’s episode to the issue of children with incarcerated parents.

Here’s a 2007 Sentencing Project report on children with incarcerated parents. These are the highlights:

• In 2007, 1.7 million minor children had a parent in prison, an 82% increase since 1991.
• One in 43 American children has a parent in prison, with particularly broad racial/ethnic variation.
• One in 15 black children and 1 in 42 Latino children has a parent in prison, compared to 1 in 111 white children.
• In 2007, there were 809,800 parents incarcerated in U.S. state and federal prisons, an increase of 79% since 1991.
• In 2007, half (52%) of all incarcerated men and women were parents.
• In 2004, 59% of parents in a state correctional facility and 45% of parents in a federal correctional facility reported never having had a personal visit from their child(ren).
• Two-thirds of the incarcerated parent population is non-white.
• From 1991 to 2007, the number of incarcerated mothers increased by 122%, compared to a rise of 76% for incarcerated fathers.

If you want to get involved by mentoring kids with parents in jail, read some details here.

Full post as published by A Public Defender on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).