--- title: The Latest Data on Incarcerated Dads and Their Children Might Shock You description: The latest data on incarcerated fathers and their children demonstrates the need for fatherhood programs and resources in correctional settings. image: https://www.fatherhood.org/hubfs/Images/Blog/NFI_Blog_data-incarcerated-dads-and-their-children.jpg --- [Skip to main content](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/the-latest-data-on-incarcerated-dads-and-their-children-might-shock-you#main) - [![NFI mark](https://www.fatherhood.org/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI%20mark.svg)FATHERHOOD.ORG](https://www.fatherhood.org/) - [STORE.FATHERHOOD.ORG](https://store.fatherhood.org/) [![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=149&height=82&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=119&height=65&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=119&height=66&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=89&height=49&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ](https://www.fatherhood.org) - [How To Build Strong Families](https://www.fatherhood.org/build-strong-families) - [Why Father Inclusion Matters](https://www.fatherhood.org/why-father-inclusion-matters) - Show submenu for Get Involved Get Involved - [Fatherhood Programs](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/programs-and-resources) - [Train Your Staff](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/staff-training) - [State, County, and City Agency Services](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/collaborative-services) Open main navigation Close main navigation - Show submenu for Get Informed Get Informed - [How To Build Strong Families](https://www.fatherhood.org/build-strong-families) - [Why Father Inclusion Matters](https://www.fatherhood.org/why-father-inclusion-matters) - [Father Stats & Infographics](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic) - Show submenu for Get Involved Get Involved - [Fatherhood Programs](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/programs-and-resources) - [Train Your Staff](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/staff-training) - [State, County, and City Agency Services](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/collaborative-services) - Show submenu for Get Started Get Started - [Find Your Stage of Father Inclusion](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-inclusion) - [How Father Friendly Is Your Organization?](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-friendly) - [Get In Touch](https://www.fatherhood.org/get-started) [Store](https://store.fatherhood.org/?hsLang=en) [Get In Touch](https://www.fatherhood.org/get-started) [Store](https://store.fatherhood.org/?hsLang=en) Show submenu for Get Started Get Started - [Fatherhood Data & Statistics](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic) - [How Father Friendly is Your Organization?](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-friendly) - [Other Free Resources](https://www.fatherhood.org/nfi-free-resources) - [Talk With us to Get Started](https://www.fatherhood.org/get-started) National Fatherhood Initiative Blog / [Latest Articles](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood) [NFI-Specific Programs & Resources](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/topic/nfi-specific-programs-resources) # The Latest Data on Incarcerated Dads and Their Children Might Shock You 3 min read ![Christopher A. Brown](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/chris_circle_icon.png?width=100&height=100&name=chris_circle_icon.png) [** Christopher A. Brown ** ](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/author/christopher-a-brown) Chris serves as the President of National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI), where he is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of NFI's strategic plan and business model, as well as its operations and fundraising efforts. ![NFI_Blog_data-incarcerated-dads-and-their-children](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Blog/NFI_Blog_data-incarcerated-dads-and-their-children.jpg?width=453&name=NFI_Blog_data-incarcerated-dads-and-their-children.jpg) If I asked you to estimate the number of incarcerated dads in federal and state prisons, what estimate would you give me? And if I asked you to estimate the number of their minor children, what estimate would you give me? Cat got your tongue? You might be surprised to learn that industrious cat would also have my tongue. After all, [National Fatherhood Initiative®](https://www.fatherhood.org/) (NFI) has [the nation’s leading fatherhood program for incarcerated fathers](https://store.fatherhood.org/insideout-dad-programs/), InsideOut Dad®, and I am one of our primary trainers on that program. Shouldn’t I know the answers to those two questions? The challenge in answering both questions for you or me isn’t that the data don’t exist. It’s that the data have until recently been very out of date. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) published [new data](https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/parents-prison-and-their-minor-children-survey-prison-inmates-2016) that show how vital it is that we help incarcerated dads for a multitude of reasons that include: - Improving their children’s well-being - Supporting the role of their children’s mothers (or other main caregivers) in raising their children - Reducing the risk of incarcerated dads’ recidivism - Breaking the intergenerational cycle of incarceration - Creating healthier communities (e.g. healthier children, healthier parents, and reduced crime) **The Data** In [*Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children*](https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/parents-prison-and-their-minor-children-survey-prison-inmates-2016), published in March 2021, USDOJ reports that in 2016: - 684,500 prisoners in federal and state prisoners had at least one minor child - Incarcerated parents had nearly 1.5 million children combined (1,473,700) - A higher proportion of incarcerated women (58 percent) than incarcerated men (47 percent) were parents What the report didn’t mention, however, is that the vast majority of parents in prison are dads. Why not? Who knows? **But the data in the report make it easy to calculate that 91.6 percent of incarcerated parents are dads.** Wow. **The data also make it easy to calculate that 77 percent of the nearly 1.5 million children of incarcerated parents were children of incarcerated dads.** Double wow. **The Need for Father-Specific Programs and Resources** Now that you know that 9 of every 10 incarcerated parents are dads and that nearly 8 of every 10 children of an incarcerated parent have an incarcerated dad, doesn’t that present a compelling argument for getting fatherhood programs and father-specific resources into America’s prisons? You bet it does. Fortunately, NFI has worked tirelessly to partner with corrections systems at the federal, state, and local levels (and with community-based organizations that work in corrections and reentry facilities) to implement our evidence-based [InsideOut Dad®](https://store.fatherhood.org/insideout-dad-programs/) program and our other [corrections-focused resources](https://store.fatherhood.org/corrections-incarcerated-dads/).[*](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/the-latest-data-on-incarcerated-dads-and-their-children-might-shock-you#source-1)  Independent [evaluations](https://learning-center.fatherhood.org/insideout-dad) of InsideOut Dad® have shown that it: - Improves pro-fathering awareness, knowledge, and skills - Increases dad-child contact - Reduces the risk of recidivism (especially when combined with other cognitive-behavioral programs) - Reduces behavioral infractions (i.e. improves the prison environment) Moreover, qualitative data from InsideOut Dad® facilitators and dads who have participated in the program reveal that it improves the relationships between prison staff—many of whom are facilitators of the program—and incarcerated dads. This need for father-specific programs and resources doesn’t minimize the need to help incarcerated moms and their children. We have [mother-specific programs and resources](https://store.fatherhood.org/for-moms/) that can help those moms improve the relationships they have with the fathers of their children. Many of our corrections partners use them. By helping incarcerated dads and moms to be the best parents they can be while in prison and after release, you’ll help a significant proportion of the [1.8 million incarcerated individuals](https://www.vera.org/publications/people-in-jail-and-prison-in-2020) in the U.S. to succeed in the most important role they’ll ever fill.[**](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/the-latest-data-on-incarcerated-dads-and-their-children-might-shock-you#source-2) How much do you know about the importance of helping the nearly 630,000 incarcerated dads to be the best dads possible? Are you interested in learning even more about the characteristics of incarcerated dads and their minor children? If so, I encourage you to [read the report](https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/parents-prison-and-their-minor-children-survey-prison-inmates-2016) for a breakdown of these dads including by race and the ages of their children. *NFI published the first edition of InsideOut Dad® in 2005. Prisons and jails in 49 states, the District of Columbia, and several other countries (e.g. Australia, Canada, Ireland, England, and Norway) have implemented it. ``**Because the USDOJ data reflect the state of the prison population in 2016 and the size of the overall prison population has fallen to 1.8 million from a peak of 2.3 million in 2008—with a drop of 14 percent from 2019 to 2020 alone—it’s clear that the total number of incarcerated dads in prison has fallen and highly likely that the total of their combined children has fallen, too. But the proportion of all parents in prison who are dads--and the proportion of children whose incarcerated parents are dads--probably hasn’t fallen much if at all. The proportion of parents in prison who are dads has remained steady for many years. Indeed, [91.8 percent](https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/parents-prison-and-their-minor-children) of parents in prison in 2007 were dads. [![Cutting Edge Tips for Running an Exceptional Fatherhood Program (On Demand)](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/135704/e25050e7-67c7-4517-aadd-e63e58a7004a.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/135704/e25050e7-67c7-4517-aadd-e63e58a7004a) Date Published: 08/24/2021 Last Updated: 08/24/2021 ## Learn How to Build a Fatherhood Program That Works Download this free guide for a proven 7-step roadmap—from making the case and securing funding for your program, to launching and measuring real results! [Get The Guide Now!](https://www.fatherhood.org/starting-a-fatherhood-program) ![7-steps-starting-a-fatherhood_program](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/7-steps-starting-a-fatherhood_program.png?width=700&height=700&name=7-steps-starting-a-fatherhood_program.png) [ Previous ](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/why-moms-are-your-greatest-asset-to-increase-father-engagement) [ Next ](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/growing-up-with-mom-and-dad-new-data-confirm-the-tide-is-turning) ## Related Articles ### [Five Leadership Practices That Build Father-Inclusive Organizations Image created with GPT Image 2. Creating a father-inclusive organization doesn't happen through a new but isolated fatherhood program, staff training on how to include fathers, or ... 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