Children of prison inmates — particularly those in black and Latino households — stand to suffer from their parents’ absence, a new study suggests. The study, which analyzed survey data collected from more than 81,000 adults, found that the likelihood of poor physical and mental health among children with incarcerated parents increased by 18 percent.
Experts say the recent findings make a case for prison reform at a time when the United States has the highest prison population in the world, with more than 2 million inmates in local, state, and federal correctional facilities. The parent inmate population in state and federal prisons more than doubled between the early 1990s and mid-2000s, according to data compiled by Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Today, people with children account for more than half of the U.S. prison population.
[For more of this story, written by Sam P.K. Collins, go to http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/08/08/3469316/children-incarcerated-parents/]
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