Parenting Inside Out

PIO is a parenting skills training program for criminal justice involved parents. The prison version is appropriate for both incarcerated mothers and fathers.

Break the cycle of inter-generational criminality

  • 63% of federal inmates and 52% of state inmates have at least one child under the age of 18 years, impacting more than 1.7 million children (U.S. DOJ, 2008)
  • Between 1991 and 2007, the number of parents held in state and federal prisons increased by 79%. The number of children of incarcerated parents increased 80%. (U.S. DOJ, 2008).
  • Children of incarcerated parents face more cumulative risk factors than do their peers without an incarcerated parent, which increases the likelihood they will become incarcerated themselves.
  • Parents who are able to maintain regular contact with their children during incarceration are less likely to re-offend once they have completed their sentences. Of all the factors that help inmates after their release, an intact family is the most important in helping them stay on the right path.

Improve child well-being

  • Children under 16 with an ever-incarcerated parent are twice as likely as other children to be DSHS clients (Washington State, 2007).
  • Children of ever-incarcerated parents use more services than the average DSHS client of the same age, suggesting family difficulties and personal problems
    • Mental health services
    • Child-protective services
    • Medical assistance services
    • Alcohol/drug treament services
    • Economic services (food stamps, child care, etc)
  • Children of incarcerated parents need contact with their parents; to have that relationship recognized and valued even under adverse circumstances. And—rather than being stigmatized for their parents’ actions or status—they need to be treated with respect, offered opportunity, and recognized as having potential.