Almost 1.5 million U.S. children have a parent in prison, study shows

In this story: Inmate population grows Majority report no personal visits RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Terry Frieden
CNN Justice Department Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly 1.5 million U.S. children -- 2 percent of the nation's minors -- had a parent in prison in 1999, according to the latest Justice Department statistics released Wednesday. That's more than 500,000 more children with a parent behind bars in 1999 than in 1991.

The figures reflect a 98 percent increase over the past eight years in the number of minors with a mother in prison. During the same period, the number of children with an imprisoned father increased 58 percent.

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The Justice Department study said at the end of last year, 1,498,800 children had a parent in prison. A majority of the children -- 58 percent -- were younger than 10, and the average age was 8 years old. As of December 31, 1999, there were 72 million children in the United States.

Although U.S. crime rates showed a steady decline in the 1990s, the number of inmates grew, and the length of sentences for certain types of crimes also grew. According to The Associated Press, the nation's prison population increased by 62 percent from 1991 to 1999 -- to 1,284,894 prisoners.

The percentage of prisoners with minor children showed almost no change during the eight-year period, from 57 percent in 1991 to 56 percent in 1999.

Because the prison population is overwhelmingly male, fathers made up the vast majority (93 percent) of imprisoned parents. In most cases, the children with fathers behind bars lived with their mothers, while those whose mothers were incarcerated were more likely to live with grandparents.

Half of the parents in prison are African American, about one quarter are white, and about one-fifth are Hispanic, the study said. It estimated there were 767,200 African American, 384,500 white and 301,600 Hispanic children of prisoners in 1999.

Forty percent of the incarcerated fathers and 60 percent of the mothers said they have weekly contact with their children, often by phone or mail. However, a majority of all imprisoned parents reported never having had a personal visit with their children since they were imprisoned.

As of 1997, a majority of all inmates -- 62 percent of state prisoners and 84 percent of federal inmates -- were held more than 100 miles from their last place of residence. Far more state inmates, 17 percent, than federal prisoners, 7 percent, were housed within 50 miles of their last home.

About half the parents in prison were never married. About one-quarter are currently married. Prior to imprisonment, fewer than half -- 46 percent of all inmate parents -- reported living with any of their minor children. In state prisons, 45 percent had been living with at least one of the children, compared to 57 percent of parents in federal prisons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rate of growth of U.S. prison population slows
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January 29, 2000
Prison populations up, but rate of growth drops
August 15, 1999

U.S. Department of Justice

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