Fathers’ Day and the High Cost of Family Separation
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
This Father’s Day, more than 1.2 million parents will be separated from their children under the age of 18 by the walls of an American prison. As a result, over 2.7 million children will face the social, emotional, health, and economic consequences of family separation. This accounts for roughly one in every 28 children, a rate that is over six times higher for Black and Hispanic children than their white counterparts.
Skyrocketing incarceration rates since the 1990s affect not only the individuals locked away, but entire families and communities. Between 1991 and 2007, a report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics found a 79% increase in the number of parents incarcerated in federal prisons, with two–thirds of these arrests being for nonviolent crimes. Over half of these parents reported being the primary provider for their children before arrest.
With only one income-earning parent, parental incarceration drastically increases the risk of childhood poverty and associated risk factors. Children encounter more health problems, including asthma, obesity, depression, and anxiety, and face social stigma and isolation from peers. System–impacted children come into higher contact with early punitive systems, and are expelled or suspended from school at much higher rates. This initial punishment initiates an often lifelong relationship with prison via the school-to-prison pipeline—ultimately perpetuating traumatic inter-generational cycles of contact with the prison system. Children of incarcerated parents are also significantly less likely to attend or graduate from a post-secondary education program, further limiting their socioeconomic mobility.
Many families separated by parental incarceration have little ability to visit their loved ones behind bars. Over 40% of federal inmates are housed at least 500 miles from home, and over 60% of state inmates are housed over 100 miles from home. This makes visitation a time–consuming, and often expensive journey that is not realistic or affordable for many families. Additionally, phone and video calls can be exceptionally expensive compared to the cost of communication for those in the general public.
Private, for-profit companies like SecureUs and JPay charge by the minute for voice video conferencing calls, preying on the need for connection between incarcerated people and their families, support systems, and defense teams. These monopoly contracts derive huge profits from overcharging already marginalized communities held within the prison system. While the D.C. Prisoners’ Legal Services Project estimates $.07 per minute as a fair benchmark rate for a call, in some jurisdictions, a single 15-minute phone call can cost nearly $25. This is even more jarring when considering minimum wage inside of prisons can be as low as $1 an hour, meaning without outside financial support, it can take incarcerated people hours of extremely low-paid labor to speak to family members.
Part of the incentive for these exploitative contracts can be explained by significant kickbacks provided to government agencies by companies like Securus. For phone and communication services alone, government contracts paid over $1.3 billion dollars to private communication companies for prison internet and phone services. A portion of company profit, much of it derived from fees paid by incarcerated people and their families, is returned to the correctional budget by the commission system. Some agencies receive over 80% or profits in kickbacks from contracted companies. Despite the cost of these calls, they are often unreliable and low quality. One attorney explained, “I can attest personally that calls are frequently dropped, connections are often so bad that you can't understand anything that your client is saying on the other line. And they often have to call back and we incur those fees.” (Federal Communications Commission In the Matter of: Rates For Interstate Inmate Calling Services, Scan p.55). The frustration this causes for incarcerated people, and the damage it does to families, cannot be overstated. While some states have required a minimum number of free phone call minutes or other communications, or place caps on the rate these monopolies can charge incarcerated people for services, many allow for continued profiteering that financially benefits their agencies. The increase in video conferencing has also led some prisons to decrease the availability of in-person visitation, meaning that the cost of a call must be shouldered in order to connect with a parent or child.
This Fathers’ Day, consider all of the parents unable to hug their children, and consider the children growing up with a parent separated from them by the borders of an American prison. This system is constructed through a series of choices that value profit over human life and perpetuate harmful, punitive policies on overwhelmingly Black, Hispanic, poor, disabled, mentally ill, and other socially, economically, or politically marginalized communities and populations. Increased incarceration rates are targeted and intentional, the isolation of inmates from their families and communities is intentional, and the high cost of visitation and communication is intentional. This Father’s Day, all children deserve to connect with their parents without barriers, and all families deserve connection, not isolation.
Sources
Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility
Disentangling the risks: Parent criminal justice involvement and children's exposure to family risks
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Prison Profiteers: How Private Companies Profit From Prison Phone Calls and Harm New Jersey Residents
Pew Research Center: Sesame Street reaches out to 2.7 million American children with an incarcerated parent
Prison Policy Initiative: For families of incarcerated dads, Father’s day comes at a premium
Prison Policy Initiative: Scan of Federal Communications Commission In the Matter of: Rates For Interstate Inmate Calling Services
Prison Policy Initiative: Evading regulation, some in-state phone calls from jails cost over $1.50 a minute
Prison Policy Initiative: Following The Money of Mass Incarceration
Prison Policy Initiative: The Phone Corporations That Ruined Fathers Day
Prison Policy Initiative:Uncovering Securus’ Profits
The New People: Over 2 Million Kids Spend Father’s Day with Dad in Prison
Authored by Sophie Belz
