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Impact of the drug war on families
 "In 1999 State and Federal prisons held an estimated
721,500 parents of minor children. A majority of State (55%)
and Federal (63%) prisoners reported having a child under the
age of 18. Forty-six percent of the parents reported living with
their children prior to admission. As a result, there were an
estimated 336,300 US households with minor children affected
by the imprisonment of a resident parent."
Source: Mumola, Christopher J., US Department of Justice Bureau
of Justice Statistics, Incarcerated Parents and Their Children
(Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, August 2000), p. 1.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 2.8% of all children
under age 18 have at least one parent in a local jail or a State
or Federal prison for a total of 1,941,796 kids. One in 40 have
an incarcerated father, and 1 in 359 have an incarcerated mother.
Source: Greenfield, Lawrence A., and Snell, Tracy L., US Department
of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Women Offenders (Washington,
DC: US Department of Justice, December 1999), p. 8, Table 18.
"A majority of parents in both State (62%) and Federal (84%)
prison were held more than 100 miles from their last place of
residence."
Source: Mumola, Christopher J., US Department of Justice Bureau
of Justice Statistics, Incarcerated Parents and Their Children
(Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, August 2000), p. 5.
"Black children (7.0%) were nearly 9 times more likely to
have a parent in prison than white children (0.8%). Hispanic
children (2.6%) were 3 times as likely as white children to have
an inmate parent."
Source: Mumola, Christopher J., US Department of Justice Bureau
of Justice Statistics, Incarcerated Parents and Their Children
(Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, August 2000), p. 2.
Approximately 516,200 women on probation (72% of the total),
44,700 women in local jails (70% of the total), 49,200 women
in State prisons (65% of the total), and 5,400 women in Federal
prisons (59% of the total) have minor children.
Source: Greenfield, Lawrence A., and Snell, Tracy L., US Department
of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Women Offenders (Washington,
DC: US Department of Justice, December 1999), p. 7, Table 17.
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