Tough Topic, Necessary Reading: Finding Books for Children with Incarcerated Parents

Abstract

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and it is estimated that about 53 percent of men and 61 percent of women in the US prison population are parents of minor children.As the number of people incarcerated in US prisons and jails grows, so too does the number of children affected by their parents’ absence. Recent estimates suggest that more than 2.7 million US children now have a parent in prison or jail.