The Prisoner's Wife: Incarcerated Parents
Abstract
My papers purpose is to inform the reader of the ever increasing number of U.S children with incarcerated parents. According to Department of Justice data African American children are nine time more likely than white children to have incarcerated parents, A number double that of what was reported in 1991 Most children of incarcerated parents live in poverty before, during and after their paren't incarceration( Johnston 1995).The social consequences of not meeting the need of these children and their non incarcerated parent will come to the attention of social workers in array of fields of practice. This includes child welfare, mental health and child development, crimminal justice , schools and the juvenile justice system.
Included in this paper is current litature on the social problem associated with rising numbers of incarcerated parents. Information on programs that could assist this vulnerable population as well as a review of the book The Prisoner's Wife : A Memoir which discusses the problem from a wife's point of view.
The Prisoner's Wife: A Memoir is a love story set in a brutal prison in upstate New York. Where a lifer Rashad meets Asha at a poetry reading. After the encounter they continued to interact due to Asha volunteer work at the prison. Where she was treated differently because she was not a family member or girlfriend. A change occured in Asha life when she sacrifed companionship and married Rashad. Though she is not a convicted felon but, a hard working author and poet the book tells her story of injustice and humiliation due to her connection to a convicted felon. Whom she later conceives a child with during one of their many conjucal visits. The book goes in depth of the problems associated with her descion to marry and have a child by a man who will spend the rest of his life in the prison system. In the book she discusses the three primary ways to be present in a prison relationship; visits, phone calls and letters.
My papers purpose is to inform the reader of the ever increasing number of U.S children with incarcerated parents. According to Department of Justice data African American children are nine time more likely than white children to have incarcerated parents, A number double that of what was reported in 1991 Most children of incarcerated parents live in poverty before, during and after their paren't incarceration( Johnston 1995).The social consequences of not meeting the need of these children and their non incarcerated parent will come to the attention of social workers in array of fields of practice. This includes child welfare, mental health and child development, crimminal justice , schools and the juvenile justice system.
Included in this paper is current litature on the social problem associated with rising numbers of incarcerated parents. Information on programs that could assist this vulnerable population as well as a review of the book The Prisoner's Wife : A Memoir which discusses the problem from a wife's point of view.
The Prisoner's Wife: A Memoir is a love story set in a brutal prison in upstate New York. Where a lifer Rashad meets Asha at a poetry reading. After the encounter they continued to interact due to Asha volunteer work at the prison. Where she was treated differently because she was not a family member or girlfriend. A change occured in Asha life when she sacrifed companionship and married Rashad. Though she is not a convicted felon but, a hard working author and poet the book tells her story of injustice and humiliation due to her connection to a convicted felon. Whom she later conceives a child with during one of their many conjucal visits. The book goes in depth of the problems associated with her descion to marry and have a child by a man who will spend the rest of his life in the prison system. In the book she discusses the three primary ways to be present in a prison relationship; visits, phone calls and letters.