Incarceration Data
Despite making up only 5% of the world's population, the United States is the world leader in incarceration, with about 25% of the world's prison population (World Bank, 2020; World Prison Brief, 2021).
The United States prisoner rate (number of prisoners per 100,000 people) is 639, the world's highest (World Prison Brief, 2021).
The United States has over 2.1 million total prisoners (Zhen Zeng and Todd D. Minton, 2019; Carson, 2019).
Parental Incarceration
The total number of children of incarcerated parents was approximately 2.7 million, representing 1 in 28 children (Sykes & Petit, 2014).
Researchers estimate that more than 5 million children experienced parental incarceration in 2018 (National Survey of Children's Health, 2018).
More than 10 million children live with a parent who has come under some form of criminal supervision at some point in the child's life (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2008).
In 2010, approximately 54% of the U.S. inmate population were parents of children under 18, consisting of 120,000 mothers and 1.1 million fathers (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010).
Incarcerated Parents by Gender
Of the incarcerated parents, 92% were fathers, and 8% were mothers (Glaze & Maruschak, 2010)
Since 1990, the number of female prisoners has grown by nearly 50%. 3/4 of these women are mothers, and 2/3 have children under the age of 18.
In one study, 88% of fathers incarcerated in State prisons said that at least 1 of their children resided with their mother, but only 37% of mothers incarcerated in State prisons reported that their children lived with their father (Glaze & Maruschak, 2010).
More than 60% of women in state prisons have a child under 18 (Sickmund, Sladky, Kang & Puzzanchera, 2019).
Incarcerated Parents Racial Disparity
African American children are more likely to have an incarcerated parent, with 11.4% of black children having an incarcerated parent compared to 3.5% of Hispanic children and only 1.8% of white children (Western & Pettit, 2009).
A study using nationally representative data indicates that 11.5 percent of African-American children have experienced parental incarceration in their lifetime and when examining older African-American children (ages 12 to 17), the percentage increases to 13.6 percent (Murphey & Cooper, 2015).
Incarcerated Parents Socio-Economic Disparity
Children living in poverty are significantly more likely to experience parental incarceration than children living at least 2 times the poverty level (Murphy & Cooper, 2015)
Children with no resident parent with more than a high school education are 41 percent more likely to have experienced parental incarceration than children with at least one parent who has had some education beyond high school (8.2 and 5.8 percent, respectively) (Child Trends, 2015).
Incarcerated Parents & Foster Care
According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), parental incarceration was a reason for entering for 7% of children who entered foster care in 2019 (Children's Bureau, 2020).
Incarcerated Parents Impact on Children
58.4% of children have experienced problems in school compared to 34% with no incarcerated parent (Child Trends, 2015).
Parental incarceration is associated with numerous adverse childhood experiences (Murphey & Cooper, 2015):
Frequent socioeconomic hardship - 46.8% of children of incarcerated parents vs. 24.1% of children with no incarcerated parent
Parental divorce or separation - 57% of children of incarcerated parents vs. 17.3% of children with no incarcerated parent
Parental death - 9.8% of children of incarcerated parents vs. 2.6% of children with no incarcerated parent
Domestic abuse - 36.9% of children of incarcerated parents vs. 5.1% of children with no incarcerated parent
Neighborhood violence - 32.7% of children of incarcerated parents vs. 6.8% of children with no incarcerated parent
Mentally ill or suicidal person - 27.8% of children of incarcerated parents vs. 7.2% of children with no incarcerated parent
Substance abuse problems - 54.7% of children of incarcerated parent v.s 7.4% of children with no incarcerated parent
Racial discrimination - 8.1% of children of incarcerated parents vs 3.8% of children with no incarcerated parent
The likelihood of being expelled from school increases from 4% overall to 23% for children with an incarcerated parent (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010).
The likelihood of graduating from college drops from 40% overall to 15% for children with an incarcerated father and 2% for children with an incarcerated mother (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010).
See Policy Brief webpage for bibliography of sources cited above.