What do family members need following a crime?
Communities have a tendency to blame and stigmatize family members of
offenders, even though most of them had nothing to do with the crime.
In fact, family members play a crucial role in whether or not a perpetrator
of crime is able to be rehabilitated and return to being a productive
member of a community. Family members deserve community support as they
too are often deeply harmed by crime and its aftermath. Here are needs
expressed by families of offenders:
Understanding the Legal Process
Finding Incarcerated Family Members
Visits to Prisoners
Help for Children of Offenders
Community Support
Spiritual and Emotional Healing
Community Mentors
If the Prisoner Is Undocumented
Healing Contact with Victims
What Else?
What else have you needed as the family member of an offender? Do you
have good web sites or other resources to recommend that have helped
you get through the aftermath of crime and with your healing journey?
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Understanding the Legal Process
Family members need support to understand the legal process. For example,
families often need to understand the plea bargaining process and want
that process to be based in “real consultation and honesty about
what it means,” says Marci, the mother of a son in prison.
Finding Incarcerated Family Members
Parents of inmates want accurate information about where their teenager
or adult child is being imprisoned, particularly when their loved one
is being transferred from jail to prison. Sometimes, inmates get moved
and families are out of contact for weeks, causing great suffering for
family members. Families have a human right to maintain contact with
their loved ones in prison. There is a demonstrated link between ongoing
family contact and fewer behavioral problems while in prison and a lower
recidivism rate once the inmate is released, adds Marci. One way to
find out what institution your loved one has been placed in is to call
(916) 445-6713 and provide the following information: ID Warrants: Name,
DOB or CDCR #.
Family members want to be treated with dignity, respect and fairness by the guards when they visit the prisons.
Elderly parents and low-income families need help to be able to visit their family members in prison. In Los Angeles, call Families of the Incarcerated/Archdiocese of Los Angeles at (213) 637-7339. In other areas, contact your local Detention Ministry Office for assistance.
Help for Children of Offenders
Get on the Bus offers help and hope to children who have been devastated
when their mother or father is incarcerated. More
>>
Family members of inmates do not deserve to be stigmatized or shamed by society, because their parent, teenager or adult child committed a crime. Family members suffer when a loved one commits a crime, and it helps if their suffering is acknowledged.
Spiritual and Emotional Healing
Family members need spiritual and emotional healing. In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for example, monthly meetings are held and monthly Masses are celebrated at different parishes for family members with loved ones in prison. For information, call Families of the Incarcerated/Archdiocese of Los Angeles at (213) 637-7339. Community Mentors
Children with parents in prison need mentors who can help the child restore their potential following the trauma of losing a parent to incarceration. Through Project Raphael mentors and mentees meet a minimum of one-hour each week at a specified site where an after school session is scheduled. Mentees and mentors can play sports, work on homework, sit and talk or have fun. Project Raphael (named after Archangel Raphael) is facilitated by Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters at (800) 463-4066.
If the Prisoner Is Undocumented
Families become separated when an undocumented worker is arrested, incarcerated and could face deportation. The Church provides resources such as The Immigration Project, through Families of the Incarcerated/Archdiocese of Los Angeles provides resources to understand and defend their case. Call (213) 637-7339.
Healing Contact with Victims
Family members of offenders often wish they could reach out
to the victim and the victim’s family in some way, says Marci.
“Healing takes place in reaching out to others harmed by the same
event,” she says. “There needs to be some kind of matching
process in which if a victim becomes ready to engage with or talk to
the offender’s family, they can get in touch with them. This would
be an adjunct to the legal court process in every single county.”