NCJ Number
196104
Journal
Social Policy Journal Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 57-74
Date Published
2002
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article addresses the benefits prison-based parenting programs have on the children of incarcerated parents and on the parents themselves.
Abstract
Based on a national survey of State prisons, this article addresses the beneficial effects that prison parenting programs have on the children of incarcerated parents, on their parents, and on society as a whole. Indicating that parents comprise a large segment of the prison population in the United States, this article begins by discussing various negative effects of parental incarceration and the traditional correctional institutions response to parental incarceration. To evaluate prison-based parenting programs, the authors designed a 17-item, multiple-response questionnaire based on prison parenting program literature. Sampling 745 State prisons resulted in 313 usable surveys. Demographics of these prisons indicated that 80 percent were males-only facilities, 13 percent were females only, and 6 percent were coed, for a total of 380,825 inmates included in this survey. Forty-eight percent of the usable surveys indicated the presence of prison parenting programs, and the results of the survey support the idea that a standardized tracking system for determining the parental status of inmates and the number of affected children needs to be implemented. Additional results indicate that of the 150 prisons with parenting programs, only half included a visitation component, and males-only prisons were underrepresented in the prison populations offering parenting programs. Tables, references