Project aims to break cycle of crime

PALMER -- Children of incarcerated parents are five times more likely than other kids to commit crimes, a state Department of Corrections case manager said Tuesday.

Youths with at least one parent in prison also are prone to depression, substance abuse and domestic violence, according to Karen Jenkins, who spoke during the Palmer Lions Club's weekly luncheon meeting.

Jenkins works with female inmates at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center -- Alaska's only prison for female convicts. She's in the second year of a three-year Children of Incarcerated Parents Project, a federally funded program operating in 10 states.

The study's goal is to find out what the effects are on children when a parent goes to prison, and to figure out ways to mitigate those damages. Just maintaining parent-child contact is a big challenge because 60 percent of the parents in U.S. prisons are held more than 100 miles from their homes, Jenkins said.

The percentage may be even higher at Hiland Mountain, which houses Alaska's female inmates sentenced for everything from marijuana use to first-degree murder. About 85 percent of those inmates have substance abuse problems in addition to primary convictions, Jenkins said.

"We're trying to get them set up with outpatient substance abuse counseling," she said. "But the question is will they reach out for that."

DOC spokeswoman Portia Parker said 17 of Hiland's 222 female inmates are from the Mat-Su.

Regardless of where they came from, though, the Children of Incarcerated Parents Project wants them to arrive at the same destination -- reunited with their children in a functioning, addiction-free setting.

That's why inmates are offered help in getting their GED, as well as classes teaching parenting and finance skills. Anger management is another important area to work on, Jenkins added. Church-related support groups and Alcoholics Anonymous also visit Hiland's populations.

Social stigma is so strong for children of incarcerated parents that kids often say they don't have a mother or father, Jenkins said. There's stress about an uncertain future, too.

"The kids don't know how long Mom will be in jail," she said.

Kids also might suffer from flashbacks to seeing their mother arrested. Temporary guardians, such as grandmothers, may not be able to handle the child's resulting disruptive behavior.

"That's when the Office of Children's Services has to step in," Jenkins said.

When the three-year studies are completed, data from each state in the project will be analyzed to find the best strategies to help children.

"Our goal is to break the cycle of crime in offender families," Jenkins said. "We don't want these kids to repeat, even in the juvenile system."