5m US children have had parent jailed

More than 5 million US children, or almost 7%, have had a live-in parent jailed, well above a previous estimate on parental imprisonment, a study said yesterday.

The analysis by the non-profit Child Trends research group into the effects of a parent’s imprisonment on children comes as President Barack Obama has made criminal justice reform a priority.

The figure of more than five million covers children up to 18 who have ever had a parent who lived with them sent to prison. The numbers were based on a 2011-12 survey by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

A 2007 estimate of children who currently had a parent in prison put the number at 1.7 million, or just over 2%. That estimate included non-residential parents, Child Trends said.

The report showed black, poor and rural children were more likely to have had a residential parent go to jail or prison. Black children were about twice as likely as whites to have had a parent incarcerated.

Other research has shown links between parental imprisonment and childhood health and behaviour problems, poor school performance and physical and mental health trouble in adulthood, the study said.