Protecting the Connection Between Parents in Prison and Their Children

Date:  09-14-2022 The child of a formerly incarcerated person writes about how bad policies make the hardships of separation even worse.

From Brennan Center for Justice: In 2016, the U.S. Depart­ment of Justice repor­ted that at least half of state and federal pris­on­ers had one or more minor chil­dren, total­ing just under 1.5 million minor chil­dren with an incar­cer­ated parent. Indeed, 1 in 14 chil­dren in the United States has exper­i­enced parental incar­cer­a­tion. A few years ago, I was one of those kids. On May 20, 2014, I didn’t wake up to my usual alarm clock. Instead, I was awakened by police officers banging on our front door. On this day, my life changed forever. I was just a 13-year-old girl expect­ing a normal morn­ing of getting ready for school. I never expec­ted that it would be the last time I’d see my father dressed in anything but an inmate uniform for three years. I struggled grow­ing up but didn’t feel like the chal­lenges I faced were over­whelm­ing. I even remem­ber arguing with some friends in middle school about how perfect my life was. When they’d strongly disagree because “no one’s life is perfect,” I argued rather overzeal­ously that I had two parents, two siblings, a home, and food on my plate. Maybe it was perfect, and maybe it wasn’t. What I knew for sure was that I enjoyed life. Continue reading >>>