I recently was honored to speak for Wings for L..I.F.E which is an empowerment program that provides life skills, education and training for children and family members of prisoners and at-risk youth. I spoke about Creating Safe Schools, bullying and preventing school dropouts.
- Children whose parents are incarcerated are bullied more frequently than most students.
- The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people currently in the nation’s prisons, a 500% increase over the last 30 years. (The Sentencing Project, 2015)
- 1 in 35 adults in the United States are under some form of correctional control. Currently 100 million people (1 in 3 U.S. adults) have a criminal conviction that impacts their employability and future. (New Mexico Prison Population Forecast, 2015)
- 95% of offenders will be released back into the community and of those, 75% will return to incarceration within 5 years. (U.S. Justice Dept.)
- Nationally the female population has been the fastest growing correctional population, increasing by an average of 3.4% annually. (NM Prison Population Forecast, July 2015)
- Children of prisoners are up to 72% more likely to become incarcerated themselves.
- New Mexico is 3rd in U.S. for kids with imprisoned parents. 52,000+ children in NM (about 10% of NM’s child population) have had a parent in jail/prison. (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2016)
- Of the 10% of New Mexico children with an incarcerated parent, 19% are Native American and 11% are Hispanic. (datacenter.kidscount.org, 2015)
- The annual cost to incarcerate one juvenile in New Mexico is approximately $182,000 compared to the lowest, $46,662 in Louisiana, and the highest, $352,663 in New York. (Albuquerque Journal, 2015)
- In comparison, New Mexico spends $7,933 annually on education per child and nationally $11,014. (National Center for Education Statistic, 2015)
Comments included:
Franklin Schargel is not only an expert in his field, but is witty, funny and very engaging. He is an excellent public speak who is very knowledgeable and keeps the audience totally involved.
Bless you for caring like you do.
If you would like Franklin to speak to your group about this vital topic, contact him at [email protected]