Knowing that children of incarcerated parents are much more likely than
their peers to be incarcerated as adults, the DOC began the Children of
Incarcerated Parents Project to help break the intergenerational cycle of
criminality.
 
One of the first outcomes of the Children's Project was developing
research-based parent management skills training program (PMT) targeted to
the unique needs of inmate parents. This 90 hour parent education program,
"Parenting Inside Out", is currently being offered in 8 of our prisons. Now,
using a $3.2 million federal grant awarded in 2003 by the National Institute
of Mental Health, the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC) in Eugene is
evaluating the long-term effects of the parenting program. OSLC is a
not-for-profit research center dedicated to increasing the scientific
understanding related to healthy development and family functioning. The
information learned in this study is expected to help find the best ways to
strengthen family ties in support of the Oregon Accountability Model and to
help break the intergenerational cycle of criminality.

 

OSLC staff working on the study have already screened 952 interested inmate
participants. At a little more than halfway through the study, OSLC has
involved 170 inmate participants, and 75 caregiver participants and one
of the children in their care, in the five-year study of the impact of
parent education on incarcerated parents and their families. By the end of
the study, OSLC hopes to have 400 inmate parents participating and over 200
caregivers and children.

 

Half of the inmate volunteer participants are randomly assigned to receive
the intervention, the other half are assigned to the control group. All
inmate study participants complete in-depth interviews and questionnaires
while incarcerated. OSLC staff interview participants immediately after
release and again six months later. Caregivers and children are also
interviewed multiple times before and after the release of the participating
inmate from prison.

For more information about the program, please contact us: