School Achievement and Family Members In Jail

School Achievement and Family Members In Jail

How can children focus on academic achievement when they are faced with more serious dramas outside school, including parents or other family members who are in jail?
Since 1980, the number of women in state and federal prisons has risen more than 400 percent. The Women's Prison Association reports that 75% of jailed women are mothers. Nearly all of these women were their children's primary caregiver before going to jail. More than 165,000 U.S. children have mothers in prison, most there because of non-violent, drug related crimes. Children pay a heavy price for the crimes of their mothers.

A 1993 report by National Council on Crime and Delinquency stated that children whose parents are in prison experience trauma, anxiety, guilt, and fear. They exhibit poor school achievement, dropping out, gang involvement, early pregnancy, drug abuse, and delinquency. Children of jailed parents drop out of school more often (15-30% of “at risk” students drop out) and are five times more likely to end up in prison themselves. Although no one cause accounts for all delinquency and crime, one of the primary predictors of delinquency is poor educational performance. Often, children’s incarcerated fathers play a limited role, if any, in their lives. Two ways to help children avoid these pitfalls is for parents to continue to play a parenting role even while imprisoned or never be imprisoned, but participate in specially designed education programs.

Many studies have been done on the relationship between literacy skills, crimes committed, and rates of return to prison (recidivism). These studies have shown that inmates have reading rates between 4th and 8th grade levels and, on the average, finished 6th grade. Nineteen percent of inmates are completely illiterate and 40% are functionally illiterate. They have difficulty with basic life tasks such as: filling out an application, writing a letter, and making change. Only 51% of inmates have completed high school. These problems weaken their bonds with mainstream society. Of inmates who complete a GED or college level courses, the rate of recidivism falls dramatically, leading to fewer parents being separated from their children.

In 1969, Travis Hirschi defined a “theory of control” which stated that people with strong bonds to society are less likely to end up in prison than those with weak bonds. Research on youthful criminals measured three areas: attachment to parents, peer relationships, and school bonding. It showed that bonding with peers is directly related to attachments to family and, as teenagers commit more crimes, attachment to parents increases and school bonding decreases. A major finding in this study was that over 70% of the teens had family members who had been in jail. This confirms Hirschi's idea that young people appear to identify with “a delinquent subculture in which criminal behavior is practiced and sanctioned.” Only by breaking the cycle of imprisonment of parents and other family members (the delinquent subculture) and strengthening bonds to education and non-criminal family members will subsequent generations find success in mainstream culture.

It is very difficult for imprisoned parents to stay connected to their children. Over 95% of state prisons allow children to visit mothers in prison, but this does not hold true for county jails. Unfortunately, of the 150,000 imprisoned mothers, half are in local or county jails. Many of these mothers find their children slipping away from them as they are cared for by relatives, in foster homes, or adopted into other homes. There is a desperate need for programs for inmates that have specific parenting components. Such components include: parenting classes, planning for release, basic education and life skills training, job training and searches, substance abuse treatment, and frequent family visits. About 90% of state correctional facilities have pre-release programs for both male and female inmates, but they don’t always include all the education and training needed.

High quality prison education programs help inmates break the cycle of poor education, low literacy skills, and criminal activity by providing the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the workplace and in society. High quality prison education programs help inmates develop problem-solving and decision-making skills they need in prison and on the job after release.

Perhaps another answer to the separation of imprisoned parents and their children is the establishment of alternatives to imprisonment for non-violent criminals. Such programs would focus on drug treatment, parenting classes, education, and vocational training. The family could be kept intact while the parent completes his or her sentence in the special program. Success in these programs would be measured by a lower rate of recidivism (a return to prison for further crimes). One study showed that of inmates who earned a GED while in prison, only 4% returned to prison subsequently, compared to 65% of inmates with no GED or high school diploma. The good thing about educational programs for inmates is that reduced recidivism means that parents return to jail less frequently, receive drug treatment and job training, and more families are able to stay together.

Communities and businesses can address the problem of jailed family members, too. There are national programs, such as Girl Scouts Behind Bars, that combine prison visits with learning experiences for mothers and children. The Incarcerated Mothers Law Project counsels jailed mothers on their rights and obligations to their children. Establishing programs for students “at risk” of school failure and actively recruiting students, as well as promoting mentoring for at-risk students all help children break the lack of literacy/crime cycle. Unfortunately, these programs are few and far between.

Schools and school districts can reduce crime rates and student incarceration by: hiring well-qualified and specially trained teachers to teach minority students; establishing high academic standards for all students and raising teachers’ expectations of at-risk students; training teachers to understand minority culture and incorporate the study of minority cultures into the curriculum; and teaching teachers how to understand and draw on minority students’ language, customs, family organizations, and learning styles. Parents and community members must insist on a multicultural curriculum to keep students from believing that school success is the same as “acting white,” to enhance self-esteem, increase self-awareness and interracial understanding, and make learning relevant, while reducing the achievement gap.