Kentucky lawmakers propose bill to increase alternatives to incarceration for primary caregivers

By Public News Service’s Nadia Ramlagan

Legislators in Kentucky have sponsored a plan that would give parents guilty of lesser crimes other options than imprisonment or prison.

The majority of the men and women incarcerated in Kentucky’s jails and prisons are also parents of small children.

“My son, now in college, testified before the Kentucky legislature about how being ripped from his mother left a lifelong imprint,” said Amanda Hall, senior director of national campaigns for the advocacy group Dream.org, who was separated from her child while incarcerated.

According to Hall, my kid told me that he would never forget the day I was jailed and that it had a profound impact on his entire life.

The Commonwealth has one of the highest percentages in the country, with almost 12% of children having a jailed parent. Research has connected parental incarceration, which is seen as an adverse childhood experience, to increased rates of depression, substance addiction, poorer academic performance, and homelessness among children.

Alternatives to incarceration, according to Hall, are meant to address the underlying circumstances and reasons of a crime and work with families to stop illegal activity from occurring in the future.

According to Hall, these could include parenting workshops, mental health programs, or treatment for substance use disorders. A case manager may also be used to try to assist individuals in obtaining vocational training.

The law, according to Cortney Downs, chief innovation officer for the group Kentucky Youth Advocates, achieves a balance between maintaining family unity and individual accountability. She pointed out that incarceration can have far-reaching consequences and frequently results in children being punished, since they may find it difficult to get their basic needs addressed while a parent is behind bars.

Downs noted that losing one’s work can result from incarceration, even for a brief length of time. It can make it harder to get employment in the future and make financial difficulties worse for families, particularly if parents are required to pay restitution or court fines and costs.

Offspring of parents who are incarcerated frequently confront the imminent threat of poverty. One advocacy group claims that approximately 50% of these kids frequently experience socioeconomic difficulties.