Neither Seen nor Heard

The lack of data is a product of a don’t ask, don’t tell system. While researching trends for its Inside-Out Connections project, the Initiative Foundation learned that no county jails in centralMinnesota regularly ask inmates if they have children, or what arrangements have been made to support them, said Senior Program Manager Linda Kaufmann.

“Most institutions in Minnesota don’t ask the question,” Meyerson said. “Even if they do have the information, they are not doing anything with it because correctional facilities are designed to deal with adults, not kids.”

“Most of the families already are facing a number of barriers... Incarceration can be the sledgehammer that breaks things apart.”

- Melissa Froehle, Attorney

Through self-reporting, the Minnesota Department of Corrections knows that about 70 percent of the female offenders at the women’s facility in Shakopee are parents, said Shari Burt, communications director. But the information from male offenders is unreliable, she said.

“Not having the information may mean we are not providing the best possible services we can,” said SarahWalker, a founder of the Second Chance Coalition and chief operating officer of 180 Degrees, which provides intervention, prevention and supportive services to juvenile and adult offenders in Minnesota.

The only place Baker and her daughter initially could find support was from other visitors she met at prison. “No one knew I went to visit him,” Baker said. “I eventually made friends with other visitors there and found a support group online where I could ask questions.”

Population Boom

Diane Baker never thought she would be spending her Sundays visiting a prison inmate. But she said she developed a serious relationship with a man before recognizing his hidden lifestyle. She thought she could help him overcome the generations of criminal drug activity in his family. She was wrong.A drug conviction put him behind bars before she gave birth to their daughter, Shadae.

“I felt ashamed,” said Baker,who now lives in Brooklyn Park with 11 year-old Shadae.

	"It's an issue that most Minnesotans don't think about.  Most people would be shocked by the statistics." - Jessica Meyerson / Wilder Research Scientist

“There is such a stigma attached to it. I had a good job and could support us. I came from a good family of hard-working Christians. I felt isolated because I had no one to talk to.”

The nation’s jail and prison population has quadrupled in the past 25 years, pushing the U.S. to the highest incarceration rate in the world. It is now estimated that one in ten American children have a parent in prison or on probation or parole.

The number of children with a father in prison rose 77 percent, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.While 92 percent of incarcerated parents are fathers, a growing number of mothers also are spending time behind bars. The number of children with incarcerated mothers soared 131 percent from1991 to 2007, the Bureau reports.

"There are a lot of programs that have emerged, including here in Minnesota, to address the needs of fathers in prison,” Meyerson said. “Mothers in prison are much more of an invisible population, but they are a much faster growing population.”

The growth in incarcerated parents over the past two decades also carries with it a disproportionate number of minorities, particularly African-Americans.Minnesota leads the nation in racial incarceration disparities with African- Americans representing less than 4 percent of the state’s population, but 35 percent of the prison population in 2009, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

The majority of all parents are behind bars for nonviolent crimes, often related to chemical addictions. Drug offenses ranked first among the 9,619 people in Minnesota prisons at the end of 2009.

A Veil of Lies

“Children tend to carry the stigma that they are bad kids because their parents made bad choices,” Kaufmann said. “They often feel like they are being punished for their parents’ bad decisions.”

	KATHY GAALSWYK: "No child is sentenced to a life of crime. They need guidance and an opportunity to form relationships with their parents, reach their own conclusions, and make their own choices:" (photo: Kathy with Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel)

The fear of rejection and social alienation has led many families to remain silent. “In a lot of families, children are discouraged from talking about what is happening in their families because it is shameful to have a family member in prison,” Meyerson said. “That’s not a healthy situation.”

The Council on Crime and Justice interviewed 34 children and 21 caregivers and found that many aimed to sidestep the shame and stigma by lying about the parent’s location. Often-cited stories were that the parent was away at school, working far away, in the military, or in the hospital.

“We heard that response quite often from caregivers,” Ruhland said. “With the older kids, the caregivers would try to shield what happened to the parent, but the children would know or find out.”

Although the intentions were good, she said that lying only reinforces the social stigmas and intense feelings of shame that most children experience. It’s better for children to know the truth and be able to ask honest questions about the safety and location of their parent.

Questionable Consequences

According to a 2000 report from the Child Welfare League of America, children who have parents in prison have an increased risk for poor school performance, dropping out, gang involvement, early pregnancy, and drug abuse. But it’s not inevitable.

Baker often advised her daughter not to define herself by her father’s mistakes and provided positive examples. “I didn’t want her to think this was her destiny, because it’s not,” Baker said. “I came from a different family.”

An often-cited statistic has shown that children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely than their peers to become criminally involved, but a family study at the Council on Crime and Justice found conflicting results.

In 2009, the National Conference of State Legislatures performed a thorough literature review that found interventions that strengthened family connections resulted in lower recidivism, reduced delinquency, and healthier child development.

“No child is sentenced to a life of crime,” said Initiative Foundation President Kathy Gaalswyk. “They need guidance and an opportunity to form relationships with their parents, reach their own conclusions, and make their own choices.” IQ

Stereotypes

Despite common perceptions, many incarcerated parents have been involved in their children’s lives prior to their arrests, said Melissa Froehle, an attorney who specialized in custodial parent cases before joining the Minnesota Fathers & Families Network as policy and program director.

Handwritten letters offer healing connections to incarcerated parents.

“Most of the families already are facing a number of barriers—poverty, unemployment, a lack of adequate housing,” she said. “Incarceration can be the sledgehammer that breaks things apart.”

According to Minnesota Second Chance Coalition, more than half of parents in federal prison report living with a child one month before their arrest and providing their primary financial support.

“I think most people would be flabbergasted to know that one quarter of dads were the primary caregivers for at least one of their kids before going to prison,” Froehle said. Parental imprisonment, especially of a father, can impose serious financial hardships on a family.

“Some people think the family is better off because we took the incarcerated parent out of the home, but that is usually not the case,” Ruhland added.