Number of children with parent in prison growing

California Watch
By: Ryan Gabrielson
Published: January 14, 2011
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When California lawmakers and policy wonks talk about reforming the state’s prison system, they’re typically talking about the public’s safety. Or how incarceration impacts the people living in cells. Or how expensive this whole exercise has become. Less often, the conversation is about those who lose a parent to a prison sentence. This week, Justice Strategies, a nonprofit research group, released a report on the nation’s swelling number of minor children with an incarcerated parent.

Related Publication

JS Publication January 12, 2011

Children on the Outside: Voicing the Pain and Human Costs of Parental Incarceration

Through expert analysis and first-hand testimony from children, parents and care-givers, Children on the Outside: Voicing the Pain and Human Costs of Parental Incarceration uncovers the devastating impact of parental incarceration on youth and the broader community and points to smart approaches to reduce prison populations and assist children. This new Justice Strategies report provides first-hand accounts of the harm experienced by some of the 1.7 million minor children with a parent in prison, a population that has grown with the explosion of the U.S. prison population.

When they do time we also do time. Just because we’re not in there doesn’t mean we don’t do time. Because you’re not with us, we also do time[.]

Araya, a teen girl with an incarcerated father. Read more »