Chaldu 1

Monique Chaldu
Selina Youngren
Eng-123
26 February 2016

Literature Review
Over the last four decades, incarceration rates in America have soared for both
men and women directly impacting the American family. While some prisons in America
try to help reform some inmates by providing family-based treatment roughly 34% of
states failed to provide family-based treatment programs (National). The increase in
mothers being incarcerated is attributed, in most cases, to the war on drugs.
Community based programs would be more beneficial in reforming mothers, helping
them to return to their families. The constant rise in prison population is evidence that
the criminal justice system is not working in America, so maybe it is time to approach
the problem with care and compassion, reforming mothers and fathers, where possible
and giving the American family a chance to be whole again. The review of literature
shows an agreement among authors that mass incarceration is having a negative effect
on American families and other alternatives to incarceration are more viable and
inexpensive.
It seems like the governments intent to reform these prisoners is there, but it is
failing because of the lack of follow-through by individual states who administer the
programs. The National Womens Law Center and the Rebecca project for Human
Rights published a report card in October of 2010. The article studied multiple facets of
womens incarceration and graded each state on their policies and practices
surrounding mothers in prison. When it came to family based treatment as an

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alternative, seventeen states received a failing grade (F) for their lack of adequate
access to family-based treatment programs for non-violent women who are parenting.
The article goes on and gives a state by state detail of their shortcomings and
successes. When a father is incarcerated, children will live with the mother ninety
percent of the time compared to, a child living with a father twenty-five percent of the
time when a mother is incarcerated. The American family is not always the classic
definition of a family (Father, mother and children) and can be made up of different
people in the household. Evidence shows that in a lot of cases, a family is made up of a
mother and her children, and given the alarming rate that women are being
incarcerated; children are being left without a parental figure.
It is obvious that this is an after effect of an attempt to control the drug epidemic
which is why it is so hard to correct. Allen states that the fastest growing population in
prison is mothers; from 1980 and 2010 the number of women in prison has increased
646%. Mothers in prison are twice as likely to report homelessness, when compared to
men. Sentencing reasons include mandatory and gender-neutral sentencing. Maternal
incarceration impacts the child more. Little boys react the same whether their mother or
father is incarcerated while little girls act angry when their mother is incarcerated and
shy and attention seeking when it is their father who is incarcerated.
Lee explains that correctional facilities do not collect data on their inmates, their
families, or social standings so most of the information we have are estimates. Poverty
and other forms of economic instabilities seem to precede incarceration. It is estimated
that 1.7 million children have been impacted by a parental incarceration. While there are

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a number of studies on the impact incarceration have on families, every inmates
situation is different, so it is hard to find a solution since one approach does not fit all.
Since the prison population has increased so much, and funding is not always
available, some cities and states, that had working reform or visitation programs in
place, had to cut it out. Harvey gives an interesting look into the lives of children who
have an incarcerated parent. She interviews the children and their accounts of visitation
and how it made them feel. Cities and states who once offered overnight visitation had
to stop it when prisons started to become over crowded. Some of the reason for
discontinuing the programs were there was not enough positive evidence that the
program did any good. In these interviews it seems that children who had overnight or
weekly visitation with their incarcerated parent were better off because they got to know
their parent and formed a stronger bond with them.
In a lot of cases children are adversely affected by a parental incarceration but
there are always exceptions. Ardittis research found that maternal incarceration for
mothers who were least likely to be incarcerated was detrimental to their children. If the
mother was likely to go to prison because of associations, drug abuse or lifestyle it was
less detrimental to the child. Womens incarceration rates are reviewed in depth and
the rise in womens incarceration rates is shocking. Incarcerated women are more likely
to have children and be the single parental role in their childrens lives. Children with
parents in prison show resilience by de-identifying with the incarcerated parent and
identifying and bonding with the parental figure in their lives. The idea that children are
resilient and will form new bonds with another parental figure, but cases when the child

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is better off without the parent are less probable, and not the cases that should be
focused on.
Arditti gives accounts of her experience studying the criminal justice system and
humanizing the science that has put everything in to numbers. There are statistics
about incarceration and the reasons for widespread mass incarceration. Case studies
are used through the book to give examples of parental incarcerations studies. Through
the book different hardships are identified for different races and social classes. The role
of cumulative disadvantage factors are explored and broken down. Arditti reviews the
connection between substance abuse, mental health and imprisonment. There are
effects on families whether it is the mother or father who is incarcerated but since
mothers, in a lot of cases, are the only parental figures and the impact of a maternal
loss is greater on a child, there should be a focus on reforming these women and
getting them back to their families.
One approach that seems viable is to sentence women to supportive housing
programs that incorporate therapy, parenting classes and substance abuse treatment.
Goshins journal gives a lot of good statistics on women in the criminal justice system.
The journal goes on to describe details about different options for women with children
in the criminal justice system. It is mentioned that the programs are only in select
prisons and jails. There are good statistics and outcomes of different studies done with
women and children. The main topic of the journal is Supportive Housing (SH) for
families. The journal describes a study done on a SH in one of the largest jurisdictions
in the country. It describes the women, method, data analysis and validity of the entire

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study. While there are only a few studies that have followed this type of rehabilitation, it
is cheaper, in most cases, and shows greater outcomes.
Families, who have a parental figure in incarceration, have a number of issues to
overcome, and there is not a lot of evidence available to concretely prove supportive
housing is the best option, but it can be concluded that incarceration is not the answer
because it is not helping anyone. There are enough studies to try and sway cities and
states into trying something new, and it is imperative that we do because our future is at
stake. If the research is correct, we are going to have an entire generation of children
who have been affected by parental incarceration and the stigmas, detachment and
recidivism that comes with it.

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Works Cited
Goshin, Lorie S. "Ethnographic Assessment of an Alternative to Incarceration for
Women With Minor Children." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 85.5 (2015):
469-482. PsycARTICLES. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.
Siegel, Jane A.. Disrupted Childhoods: Children of Women in Prison. Piscataway, NJ,
USA: Rutgers University Press, 2011. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 13 January 2016.
Arditti, Joyce A.. Parental Incarceration and the Family : Psychological and Social
Effects of Imprisonment on Children, Parents, and Caregivers. New York, NY,
USA: New York University Press (NYU Press), 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 13
January 2016
Lee, Hedwig, Lauren C. Porter, and Megan Comfort. "Consequences of Family Member
Incarceration: Impacts On Civic Participation And Perceptions of The Legitimacy
And Fairness of Government." Annals of The American Academy of Political and
Social Science 651.1 (2014): 44-73. PsycINFO. Web. 14 Jan. 2016
Arditti, Joyce A. "Family Process Perspective on the Heterogeneous Effects of Maternal
Incarceration on Child Wellbeing [Comments]." Criminology and Public Policy 1
(2015): 169. HeinOnline. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
Allen, S, C Flaherty, and G Ely. "Throwaway Moms: Maternal Incarceration and the
Criminalization of Female Poverty." Affilia: Journal of Women & Social Work 25.2
(2010): 160-172 13p. CINAHL Complete. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
Gaston, Roberta. "Collateral Damage: Examining the Impact of Maternal Incarceration
on the Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Educational Functioning of Children:
Released Mothers' Perspective." Electronic Thesis or Dissertation. Cleveland

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State University, 2008. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. 14
Jan 2016.
Harvey, Sylvia A. "What About Us?." Nation 301.25/26 (2015): 10-17. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
National Womens Law Center, and The Rebecca Project for Human Rights. Mothers
Behind Bars: A State-by-state Report Card and Analysis of Federal Policies on
Conditions of Confinement for Pregnant and Parenting Women and the Effect on
Their Children. Publication. National Womens Law Center, Oct. 2010. Web. 20
Jan. 2016.