When I was 7 years old, my father went to prison. He was sentenced to more than 20 years. Like many children with an incarcerated parent, I experienced feelings of shame, depression, and withdrawal. In my case, this lasted until I was a young adult and went to college.

Having a father in prison felt like I was being punished for something beyond my control. The concept of “indirect sentencing” has resonated with me and with others I’ve met who have an incarcerated family member. There is an understanding that Incarcerating one person has emotional and economic impacts beyond that person. Families face a number of problems as their relative goes from arrest, to conviction and sentencing, to incarceration.

My father’s absence caused a financial strain. My mother had to raise me as a single parent, leaving both of us more susceptible to living in poverty. We were fortunate to have a certain level of stability because of strong support on my mother’s side of the family, but not all children with an incarcerated parent are as fortunate. The rising rate of incarceration of women has made the problem worse. With one or especially both parents in prison, many children fall deeper into hunger and poverty. 

In the United States, one in 28 children have at least one parent incarcerated —approximately 2.7 million children at any given time. An estimated 10 million children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. Many are quite young—about half of all children with an incarcerated parent or parents are under the age of 10. The likelihood of confronting parental incarceration is very closely tied to race. Broken down by race, the statistics show that one in nine African American children (11.4 percent), one in 28 Latino/a children (3.5 percent), and one in 57 white children (1.8 percent) have an incarcerated parent. 

Bread’s fact sheet Hunger and Mass Incarceration reports that more than two-thirds of all incarcerated men had been employed at the time they were sentenced to prison, and more than half had been their children’s primary source of financial support. A study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that family incomes were on average 22 percent lower in the years the father was incarcerated than during the year preceding his being sent to prison, and they remained 15 percent lower the year following his release. Many household budgets were further strained by expenses associated with incarceration, such as collect phone calls, day trips to visit their relative, and prison commissary costs—in addition to lawyers’ fees and court fees.

Many incarcerated people work, but most are paid very little, between 23 cents an hour and $1.15 an hour. They struggle to afford their own basic necessities, such as soap and toothpaste, which are sold at prices that may be twice those of n neighborhood stores. They may also be required to make restitution payments. Thus, parents in prison are able to send very little money, if any at all, home to help support their children. 

All these factors help explain why children with an incarcerated parent are more susceptible to living with hunger and poverty. The United States does not have many nonprofit or government-funded programs  targeted specifically to families who have lost a wage earner to incarceration. Some may qualify for federal nutrition programs such as SNAP or other types of social protection. But overall, the assistance available is simply not enough to respond in a meaningful way to the needs of the several million children who are living with indirect sentencing.

Karyn Bigelow is a research analyst with Bread for the World Institute.

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Mass incarceration hurts a person’s ability to get, and keep, a good-paying job.

Jobs are critically important to earn an income and provide for a family. Unfortunately, 70 percent of people returning from jail or prison report having a difficult, or impossible, time securing employment.

Employers can still legally discriminate against people with a record, making it harder to get a job paying above poverty-level wages and put food on the table.

But this harsh reality need not continue. To learn more about the impact of mass incarceration on jobs and hunger and what you can do to help, read Mass Incarceration: A Major Cause of Hunger.

91% of people returning from jail and prison face hunger

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“As its name implies, the FIRST STEP Act is only an initial step towards criminal justice reform,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Reforming the criminal justice system is a work in progress and critical to ending hunger and poverty in the United States.”

The FIRST STEP Act reduces mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offences and gives judges more flexibility in sentencing. It provides for education, training, and treatment programs that will reduce recidivism to help people successfully reenter society.

While the FIRST STEP Act is an important first step, Bread is cautious that the risk assessment tool could be implemented in a way to have a disparate impact on communities of color. Bread is also concerned that the final legislation did not make all sentencing reforms retroactive.

“The risk assessment tool must account for existing racial and gender disparities in the criminal justice system,” said Marlysa D. Gamblin, domestic advisor for policy and programs, specific populations at Bread for the World Institute. “We look forward to working with lawmakers and the independent commission to help assist in applying a racial and gender equity lens in the design and implementation of the risk assessment tool to avoid disparate impact on men and women of color.”

Jesus says in Luke 10:27, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…and your neighbor as yourself.” When we understand the value and worth of our neighbors and ourselves, we will promote policies that emulate the justice of God’s kingdom.

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Consequently, an additional 56,0001 African Americans are still food insecure compared to 2015 numbers. While this is lower than the 187,000 additional African Americans who fell into hunger in 2016, targeted policies that prioritize racial and gender equity need to be implemented to reduce hunger at faster rates.

The higher rates of poverty and hunger among African Americans are direct results of systemic inequity through racial and gender discrimination. While the United States has an overall poverty rate of 12.3 percent, according to the U.S. Census, within the African American community, the poverty
rate is 21.2 percent. This rate is even higher in African American female-headed households at 30.3 percent.

African American leaders on the local, state, national, and international levels continue to do their part to fight hunger and poverty in their communities.

African Americans are two times as likely as whites to face very low food security

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Bread for the World Institute

Racial Wealth Gap Learning Simulation

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This paper explains how mass incarceration increases hunger. In a study by the National Institutes of Health, 91 percent of returning citizens reported being food insecure. Many face difficulty securing a place to work and live after being released. In addition, 75 percent of returning citizens report that it is “extremely difficult” or “impossible” to find a job post-incarceration. Even once formerly incarcerated people manage to find jobs, they suffer a permanent reduction in their lifetime earning potential, by nearly $180,000. This explains why 1 in 4 households headed by a returning citizen lives in deep poverty. In addition, incarceration frequently leads to hardships for their families. According to one study, almost 70 percent of households reported having difficulty meeting basic needs, such as food and housing, when a family member was incarcerated.

U.S. poverty would have dropped by 20 percent between 1980 and 2004 if not for mass incarceration.

Social Science Research Network

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“Attorney General Sessions’ decision to end the Smart on Crime initiative will increase mass incarceration and hunger. This decision will again force federal prosecutors to pursue excessive mandatory minimum sentences for those convicted of low-level drug offenses.

“Mandatory minimums lead to unnecessary and inappropriate long prison terms, which do more harm than good for the incarcerated, his or her family, and the community at large. In the U.S., 2 out of 3 households are unable to provide their basic needs, including food and shelter, as a result of a family member becoming incarcerated, according to the 2015 report, Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families. The attorney general’s decision to advise prosecutors to seek harsher punishments, such as mandatory minimums, will increase mass incarceration and lead to more hunger and poverty, especially among vulnerable populations and communities of color.

“Republicans and Democrats agree that instead of locking people up, we should unlock their potential. The decision to increase the use of mandatory minimums for low-level drug offenses will increase the number of parents who become incarcerated and are unable to provide for their children. This increases hunger and does nothing to fix our broken criminal justice system.”

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Produced in September 2016

This fact sheet explains how mass incarceration and over-policing are related to hunger. People leaving jail or prison (“returning citizens”) are one of the groups that Bread for the World recognizes as being especially vulnerable to hunger and poverty.

It provides statistics and examines the factors that contribute to hunger and poverty in this community:

• Less access to sufficient nutritious food, safety-net protections, and housing
• Loss of household income, lower wages, and lower earning power
• Difficulty securing and maintaining employment
• Added debt
• Voting restrictions

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