Understanding Parental Incarceration and Its Effects on Children's Mental Health

Abstract

While a deeper understanding of the effects of mass incarceration in the United States has gained recent traction and attention, it is less recognized that the children of those incarcerated are also greatly affected. There is a growing body of research that focuses on how parental incarceration affects the mental health of children. However, there is a critical need to further the conversation around how incarceration creates a trickledown effect of mental health issues. The goal of this chapter is to examine how and why mass incarceration has led to increased mental illnesses and disenfranchisement for sentenced individuals and their children. By discussing this complex system, further truths will be revealed, and important questions will be generated. The authors conclude with questions, and suggestions, in the hopes that this will lead to further research and action that have vast implications for the mental health community as it pertains to the discussed population.