Introduction and Literature Review: Is Parent–Child Contact During Parental Incarceration Beneficial?

Contact between incarcerated parents and their children has received increased attention because of the growing number of incarcerated parents and the potential effects of contact on child and adult relationships and well-being, parenting, and corrections-related issues such as institutional behavior and recidivism. This introductory chapter summarizes variations in parent–child contact by facility type (i.e., local jails, state prisons, federal prisons) and reviews common practices in jails and prisons across the United States. The benefits of and barriers to different types of parent–child contact in the context of corrections are also summarized, including letter writing, email, phone calls, and personal visits (e.g., face-to-face, video, barrier). Finally, we summarize the literature on the impact of parent–child contact for parents, children, and families.