How Having A Family Member In Prison Can Affect An Individual’s Life

In this investigation, I will demonstrate how having a family member in prison can affect an individual’s life, primarily focusing ones mental health and upbringing. My main aim of this document is to demonstrate how lives can be changed directly because of an imprisonment.

From using both primary and secondary research I hope to draw the conclusion of prisons making a much wider effect on society rather than the just the sole convict which some people maybe oblivious to.

Imprisonment is the main source of punishment in England since early 1500s, with now over 100 prisons in action encompassing males, females and young offenders. It is more than 200 years since John Howard and Elizabeth Fry drove through the first reforms in our prison system in hope of improving the conditions of prisons to reduce crime rate.

However, in 2018 alone, the total UK prison population was 83,620 which average at around 0.13% of the population. From the 83,620 convicts this year, 79,750 are males and just 3,870 are female. The total prison population has dramatically increased since 1800 where there was a population of 42,264 prisoners across the UK. Some would argue that the main purposes of prisons include; retribution (punishment for crimes against society), incapacitation (removal of criminals from society), deterrence (prevention of future crime) and rehabilitation (activities designed to change the criminals into law aiding citizens). However it is found that within three years of release around two-thirds (67.8%) of released prisoners were rearrested or even put back into prison for committing another crime, which therefore makes society question the reliability and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. This is especially reinforced when the average cost to imprison one person is £65,000 in this country once police, court costs and all other steps are taken into account. After that, it costs a further £40,000 for each year they spend incarcerated. As a result of the prison population continuously growing, more prisons will have to be built at a huge expense.

People often overlook the wider implications of having a family member being taken out of society and the family network and put into an institution for a long period of time; a period which is potentially detrimental to the upbringing of a child’s mental and physical health. Childhood is the most crucial time in anyone’s life, the behavior displayed by role models namely parents in early life are reflected by the child in later life which is why it is so important to behave in a certain manner to bring up a respectful child. Childhood is the point in anyone’s life when basic emotions and behaviors are formed from the influence of their main carer.

It is estimated that more than 200,000 children in England and Wales are affected in some way by parental imprisonment and children are making nearly 10,000 visits each week to public prisons. Having an absent parent during early stages of life, including late adolescence, can make a child twice as likely than other children to experience mental health problems, more likely to be excluded and three times more likely to be involved in an offending activity.

Traumas in childhood consequently increase the risk that one will encounter a whole range of problems in later life including delinquency and criminality.

Family Network

A family network is a group of people who are related in some way; they have a connection with each other and work together as a system. The network is a significant part of a family, they help one another to live a smooth life and aid the family with financial income, a home, food and basic needs such as clothing as well as a happy, healthy place to be a part of. Once this network is broken by a person being absent due to an offence, the system becomes incapable of performing the usual day to day workings it once did. One parent, in most cases the mother, is left to fight and look after her family for however long the sentence lasts whether it is six months or six years. Her duty is now to raise children, become the main source of income, look after a household and care for her own mental and physical health; which can be difficult because of the added stress she has been unfortunately put under by the other parent. Children of the offender will become unsettled and confused as to what has happened; bearing in mind they may be too young to understand. Sadly in most cases the anxiety of the children is put on to the lone parent in many forms such as anger or depression.

This can be mentally damaging to parties, parent and child as they both have different strategies of coping with the family upheaval. However, for some children their lives may actually improve as a result of the imprisonment, especially where there has been disruption and turmoil as a consequence of a parents offending behavior. Specifically, improvements in a child’s life may occur in situations where there has been such tension and disharmony in the family that a parent going into prison produces a more stable and nurturing environment for the child. Or in some cases, the parent going into prison has used disproportionate amounts of the family income for his/her needs and therefore as a result of imprisonment there are more financial resources available for the child overall improving their life.

Another possible improvement in life from imprisonment could be domestic violence. It is estimated that 1.8 million adults aged 16-59 experience domestic abuse each year, the majority of them (82%) being women and men compromise the vast majority of defendants (92%) in domestic abuse –related prosecutions. In 2014/15, 81 women were killed by a current or former partner. In such cases of domestic violence, imprisonment can be a major improvement to an individual’s life as they are no longer absorbed in a damaging environment. The victim gets to be released from the violence and the offender gets to be punished.

Parents who then return from periods of imprisonment are still dependent on institutional structures and routines cannot be expected to effectively organize the lives of their children or exercise the initiative and autonomous decision making that parenting requires. Those who suffer the negative effects of a distrusting adaptation to prison life will find it difficult to promote trust and authenticity within their children. It is shown that those who remain emotionally over-controlled and alienated from others will experience problems being psychologically available and nurturing. Tendencies to socially withdraw, remain aloof or seek social invisibility could not be more dysfunctional in family settings where closeness and interdependency is needed for it to work how it once did. This influences negatively the network of a family as they have to adjust once again to bringing some back into the family who once caused so much anger and frustration amongst them. Following the release, many prisoners will have to learn how to be parents again and children will have to adjust to having that parent at home.

It will most defiantly take a long time to change their ways back to a working family with trust incorporated. Some families never recover from this and in many case end in a divorce as the convict is not who they were before, times had changed since they were put away in prison which can never be changed back. The release of a parent or family member from prison can cause an array of conflicting emotions within the family. Whilst some children; usually young children who aren’t as aware will be excited that their loved one is returning. Others may feel scared, worried or apprehensive. The roles and dynamics of the household may have changed during the imprisonment, so the release can sometimes be symbolize a period of change and readjustment.

It is usual that a child may feel anxious even though they may want to see their loved one again. If children have maintained regular contact with the prisoner through visits, letters or phone calls, relationships may be more familiar to readjust to. However if the child/young person has not seen their parent or family member since the imprisonment, many things may have changed in their lives that will affect how they interact with that person. They may need some time to get to know each other again. Research has identified that children often require additional support during this period, but very often official support services have ended due to the parent no longer being in prison. Interviews with children have shown similar anxieties, as well as concerns that their parent may reoffend and they feel that they need to be watchful to guard against this happening.

Support services for children can be implemented at three levels, including the Local authority, schools and school staff. The local authorities recognize this group of children as a priority group due to their rare circumstances and influences.

They include the children in Children and Young Peoples Plans where they will assign a key person who is accountable for the group of children in an area. This person is in direct contact for the designated person at school level, they will help this person through this tough time as best they can. Schools should ensure that all school staff attends training on the issue at hand, which should cover the effect of children, how the children can be supported and children’s experiences of visiting prisons.

Emotional wellbeing in the community When considering the emotional well-being of a child or young person, it is important to consider the situation they are under and the stresses they may be facing. It is important for children to have established routines within their family, to have parents who can manage their behavior and difficult feelings and parents who are willing to help children with their educational potential. These are all things which will build stability and strengthen relationships.

It is important to note that depending on the strength of the relationship between the child or young person and the parent or other family member in prison, they may experience some of the following:

• Sense of sadness from losing a parent.
• Grief.
• Concern of the family member in prison for example worrying if they are lonely, sad or being hurt/mistreated.
• Emotional difficulties for example feeling anxious, not expressing their feelings and having sleep disturbances.
• Changes in behavior for example withdrawal of food or misbehaving.

The COPING project, which included a survey of 291 seven- 17 year olds in the UK, attempted to assess what proportion of children were in need of specific interventions based on their mental health.

It concluded: ‘The stand out figure amongst this data is that at least 25 per cent of children aged 11 years or over – according to their parent or carers ratings- are at high risk of mental health problems... The proportion of children under the age of 11 years who are at high risk of mental health problems is lower than this but still appreciable...’.This figure is important in my research as it shows how many children’s emotional health is affected by such situations like parental imprisonment without taking into account other factors.

Children and families often tell us about their negative experiences when visiting a family member in prison, they overlook the main positive of seeing the person which they haven’t in a while. This is backed by research which has shown that children can find visiting upsetting, frightening and the searches daunting- particularly the first few times they experience this. Amongst the poor facilities and strict rules which the children perhaps aren’t used to this is another adjustment they will need to make. The children can become bored, and agitated during visits making this a distressing situation for them, reporting that they would prefer fewer restrictions to make the environment within prisons more inviting.

Another factor may include the ‘knock on effect’; this is the idea that depending on the role and significance of the imprisoned parent in the family prior to the imprisonment, the family may experience some of the following impacts which may consequently affect the child: the parent left at home may be highly pressurized and dealing with their own loss and anger about what has happened regarding the imprisonment. This may then have an effect on their ability to provide adequate parenting ‘you’ve got to keep the house going, you’ve got to look after the children, financially you’ve got to be independent and then you’ve got to mentally support someone else when you need that support yourself’. Family living situations may also have to change due to the withdrawal of income, they may no longer be able to pay a mortgage, want to make a fresh start or because they have been made to feel unwelcome where they live due to the nature of the offence committed. This transience may lead to a break down in the child’s support networks, friendship networks and school attendance. Within the community, information that a member of your neighborhood has been taken to prison will accumulate a number of opinions which is unstoppable.

There is an increased likelihood of the family moving, thereby potentially cutting of access to established support networks. This could be because of financial problems or even unfriendly opinions. Children may experience stigma from parent of other children who may not want their children to have contact with someone who has a family member in prison. This alerts the argument of why the children are being punished for their parents actions, they child more than likely had nothing to do with the offence yet still being excluded from society because of it. All of these social factors within the community may also have a cumulative impact on the child’s opportunities for play and developing friendships, as well as a cumulative impact on the likelihood of the child being bullied.

Also with the community comes schooling, during a difficult time like having a parent in prison it can be difficult to concentrate or focus your efforts on to education especially if you don’t have the support you want or need. If the child is of the age where they are taking important exams such as SATs, GCSE or A-levels, this point can be crucial to have a fully functioning network because of the added stress from school. It is shown that a child’s concentration and school work may deteriorate because their attention is split between school and family anxiety. Their behavior may markedly deteriorate potentially because they have had a bad influence throughout their upbringing and they are reflecting this behavior within the classroom. The child may also have been told by family members not to tell anybody in school about the imprisonment perhaps because it could draw unwanted attention or give the family a bad name. Not telling anyone about the imprisonment will also create tension and uncertainty. Not telling the school in particular is also a bad direction to take as the school would usually need to be aware of such thing to take the correct precautions around the subject providing the needed support to make the child more at ease when at school.

Impacting factors on children

Each individual child will be affected by a family imprisonment in a unique way. Wright and Khan (2010) suggest that for some families this will be their first experience of the criminal justice system, whilst others will have been involved for many years prior. Studies have shown that there is a wide variety in the number and characteristics of support needs of children and families in this situation. Every child who goes through a family imprisonment will have different needs for support, particularly in relation to mental health. Schools and other agencies must therefore be alerted of the general impacts of family imprisonment on the child, but always see the individual as a child and the particular pattern of difficulties and challenges that they face.

When it comes to the impact imprisonment has on a child, it should be recognized that different genders will react differently. Each child will have a different relationship with the parent in prison so it can be especially hard to express the emotions. Murray and Farrington (2005) have noted that boys tend to show externalized problem behavior whilst girls tend to have more internalized reactions. However this can differ whether it is a mother or father who is in prison. A change in behavior can become apparent at any time whether it is during the imprisonment or after.

Some may say that the impact of a father’s imprisonment may have a major impact on a child however; the imprisonment of a mother may have even greater consequences, especially in terms of living and care arrangement. Statistics have shown that mothers are far more likely to have sole responsibility for childcare and as a result the child is much more likely to be moved from the family home if the mother is imprisoned as there will not be a main carer for the children.

Research has shown that when a mother is sentenced, only 5 per cent of children remain in their own home. While some children whose mother is imprisoned will be cared for by their father, many will either be looked after by wider family e.g. grandparents or entered into the care system. If the child does go into care or live with a foster parent, this may have negative implications for the mother, such as parenting issues when she is released as the child may prefer the current foster/care environment.

Information to the child may be censored until a certain age, parents or guardian may feel that is unnecessary that the child needs to be informed about the negative behavior of a parent or that it will affect their relationship with one another. It will differ between cases in terms of what a child knows about a family member’s imprisonment due to the nature or severity of the case. Parents may optionally take the route of not telling a younger child about the imprisonment at all, and the child may believe that the parent is ‘working away’ or ‘on holiday’. Also, some children may be unclear about how long the family member will be in prison, particularly young children whose concept of lengthy periods of time may be more limited. This route to take can have greater effects in later life due to the lies the child has been told in early life even though it was thought to be the best option at that time. Information shared with not only children but outside of a family network will also be limited due to the nature of the offence. Some offences may produce significantly greater challenges for the child to come to terms with than others. The offence may have directly involved the child as a victim, in which case the child will have had first-hand contact with the offence; most extreme cases including the child being a victim of sexual assault. In these situations, in addition to the other damaging effects including mental health issues and physical issues, the child may also in some way feel to blame for the parent being in prison. Across a lifespan, mental health issues will be present.