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Children of the Prison Boom
September 23, 2014 @ 8:30 am - 11:00 am
Freehe 2014-15 PRI Occasional Series on Reentry Research will highlight issues raised by the groundbreaking report recently released by the National Academy of Sciences, The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Causes and Consequences. Please join us on September 23rd for the first installment in this series, which will feature Sara Wakefield, co-author of Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality, and other speakers with expertise on issues concerning the children of incarcerated parents.
Co-sponsored by the Osborne Association New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents, the event will be held in room 9.64 of John Jay College’s New Building, with bagels & coffee available at 8:30am and the speakers beginning promptly at 9am. In addition to remarks by each featured speaker, the day will include a moderated panel discussion and audience Q & A.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014, 8:30 – 11:00am
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
524 West 59th Street, New Building Room 9.64
| Sara Wakefield is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on the consequences of mass imprisonment for the family, with an emphasis on childhood wellbeing and inequality. With Christopher Wildeman, she is author of Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality. Related work examines social networks and family ties among the currently incarcerated and the influence of emerging surveillance technology on crime and racial inequality in arrest rates. In other research, Dr. Wakefield is an investigator on a multi-disciplinary, NICHD-funded study of human capital and substance use interventions during childhood and adolescence. | |
| Katti Gray (moderator) is a freelance journalist and a contributing editor for The Crime Report, the online news site of John Jay College’s Center on Media, Crime and Justice (CMCJ), and coordinates CMCJ’s 2013-14 Health Behind Bars Fellowship for 20 criminal justice and health journalists from across the United States. Specializing in criminal justice, education and health/health care news coverage, Katti’s byline also has appeared in, among other publications, ABCNews.com, CNN.com, dailyRx.com, Ebony, Essence, Newsday, Reuters, Salon, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Ms. Gray also directs New York University’s Urban Journalism Workshop and is an adjunct professor of journalism in Hunter College’s Department of Film & Media. | |
| Tanisha Douglas is a freelance social worker who contracts with organizations such as Sadie Nash Leadership Project, CASES (Center for Alternative Sentencing & Employment Services), and Harlem Children’s Zone. She has previously worked with the Center for Community Alternatives (CCA) and the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. A graduate of Columbia University’s School of Social Work, Tanisha’s areas of focus were clinical practice, criminal justice, and African-centered practice. | |
| Jean Kjellstrand, Assistant Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, examines the role of key individual, family, and community factors on the development of children with criminal justice involved parents. Guided by this information, she then works closely with communities to develop preventive interventions which promote positive youth development. Her goal is to create effective interventions that are affordable, acceptable, and sustainable within existing delivery systems. Before entering academics, Jean was a licensed social worker for over 16 years. During this time she developed and coordinated several individual, group, and community interventions to support and empower children and families in high-risk circumstances. | |
| Tanya Krupat‘s work for the past 15 years has focused on children of incarcerated parents with an emphasis on visiting and the importance of supporting the maintenance of the parent-child relationship. She is currently the Program Director of the New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents, and Children and Youth Services at The Osborne Association focusing on both policy reform and direct services to support the well-being of New York’s children with justice-involved parents. Prior to joining the Osborne Association in 2006, Tanya worked at the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Tanya has has a Licensed Masters in Social Work (LMSW) and a Masters in Public Health (MPH). | |
| Deborah Sills Iarussi is a Trustee and Program Officer for the Sills Family Foundation. She is a clinical social worker with a focus on families and trauma and these interests have informed some of the foundation’s focus areas; in particular supporting programs for children whose parents are incarcerated. The foundation currently gives approximately 70% of its yearly grants to programs supporting families impacted by incarceration. This focus is informed by the fact that this is a population that is widely under-served and frequently invisible, yet their lives are often profoundly impacted by the criminal justice system. She and her husband live in Brooklyn with their three kids, a dog and a turtle. |