Black & Brown Children
This Father’s Day, over two million American children may
not have an opportunity to celebrate Father’s Day with their fathers because they
are in prison. It’s a sad fact, that the
United States has the largest prison population in the world. There are over 2.3
million people in prisons throughout the United States, and though the United
States represents less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it houses an
astounding 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. Since 1981, the increase in prison population has surged the
number of children of incarcerated parents by 80 percent.
There are now 2.7
million minor children (under age 18) with a parent behind bars (The Pew
Charitable Trusts). The vast majority of these parents are African American and
Latino fathers. In state prisons, 42% of fathers are African American. 1 in 9 African-American children (11.4
percent), 1 in 28 Hispanic children (3.5 percent) and 1 in 57 White children
(1.8 percent) has an incarcerated parent (John Jay Center for Criminal
Justice).
Mass incarceration cripples families and communities,
perpetuates poverty, recreates conditions for crime, waste trillions of
taxpayers’ dollars, and has underlying racial bias implications. The tremendous increase in the prison population has changed
much of the debates on just about every social and economic issue you can think
of from the war on drugs to parental rights. The battle between the rights of
custodial parents and non-custodial parents, (particularly concerning
incarcerated fathers) are a mute subject due to mandatory minimum
sentencing.
Moreover, indigent fathers, who are incarcerated, leave
prison with an average of $20,000 in back debt, according to the Federal Agency
for Child Support Enforcement, and 70 percent of all back child support is owed
by men earning less than $10,000 a year, landing the majority of men of color back
in prison--without being provided an attorney.
"Many incarcerated fathers have become trapped in a system
that has failed to recognize that African Americans and Hispanics men earn less
than white men, even when both have comparable incarceration and criminal
offense records, making it almost impossible for them to pay back their child
support."
This modern day debtors prison system is destroying the
relationship fathers have with their children and makes it difficult for
fathers to reconnect with their children once they are finally released. It is no doubt that people of color have been incarcerated
disproportionately, but it’s children that hurt the most when their parents are
behind bars and absent in their lives. Children of incarcerated parents often
suffer from poor health, behavior problems, emotional difficulties and poverty.
In light of this, courts and policymakers must understand
and consider all of the challenges children of incarcerated parents face when
making decisions about sentencing that affects the lives of millions of
children, and legislators need to recognize how critical comprehensive criminal
justice reform is to reducing state and federal prison populations. Reducing mandatory minimums, support for ‘Ban the Box’ bills,
and state supported transportation for children to visit their incarcerated
parent, are great efforts towards reform, but more needs to be done. Funding is needed for programs and services that
directly address issues that impact the day-to-day lives of children of
incarcerated parents.
Fortunately, some states are starting to implement a wide
array of reforms in their own prison systems to reduce incarceration rates and
offer some optimism for incarcerated fathers which are being recognized as
models for the entire nation. In Illinois for example, the Turner bill is being vote on sponsored
by Rep. Arthur Turner, D-Chicago, if passed, the bill would wipe out arrest
records for ex-offenders that don't end in a conviction — because charges are
dismissed, or because a judge grants a conditional discharge, meaning no
conviction is recorded if the defendant stays out of trouble for a specified
period.
In New Jersey, voters and lawmakers gave judges more power
to release low-risk defendants who can’t afford bail, letting them go home
rather than sit in jail while they await trial. In Idaho, a new law created
24-hour crisis centers to help keep people with mental health issues from being
locked up unnecessarily. Georgia and Louisiana established courts for military
veterans accused of crimes, and Hawaii is funding programs to help reunify
children with parents who are behind bars.
These are just a few examples of criminal justice reform
that states around the country have put in place over the last two years,
according to a new report by the Vera Institute of Justice.
"Mass incarceration has destroyed the lives of hundreds of
thousands of people, but a prison sentence for a father shouldn’t result in a
life sentence for a child."
This Father’s Day, let’s hope that all incarcerated fathers
can find a way to spend more time with their children--and less time in prison.
"The hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill." -President Barack Obama
Repost from the Chicago Defender: 06/22/16
https://issuu.com/chidefender/docs/06222016_chicagodefender/6
