Family visit to prison.

We’d like to showcase your experiences too. Please upload your images using the form found at this link.

If you are on food stamps and lost food during the storm (due to power
outage, flooding, etc.) you can have that food replaced. You must file
a “replacement food stamp benefit” form within 10 days.

You can get help filing this form by:

Calling HRA or your food stamp office
Calling 311
Contacting the Food Bank of NYC at (212) 586-7855

Having proof of a problem is helpful but not required. For example, it
can be helpful to have a letter from the landlord stating that you had
flooding or power outage or from Con Ed saying that the power went out.
Folks in the Bronx, Jamaica and Staten Island who were affected by the
storm should especially know about this.

The food stamp program is a federal benefit, so if you know people in NJ
(or anywhere else) they can get a a food stamp reimbursement too by
contacting their local food stamp office in their state.

Important note for the future: This food stamp reimbursement is not
just limited to this storm. At any point in time, if you are on food
stamps and lose food because of some “misfortune” such as flooding,
refrigerator damage, evacuation or because you had not access to your
home and food went bad, you can apply for replacement food stamp
benefits.

Please share with your networks ASAP. You have to apply within 10 days
of the “misfortune”.

Here’s another option–a free option.

Family Life Behind Bars is offering professional portrait service for people who have a significant other (partner, son, daughter, parent, etc) in prison. We will take a series of portraits that captures each person’s unique character or the message you’d like to convey.

We will give you high resolution digital copies of ALL the image we shoot and one high quality 5×7 color print.

But is it really free? It is…the only thing we ask is your time for a short video interview about your experience dealing with a loved one’s incarceration and the impact it has had on you and your family. We also ask the right to post the portraits on Family Life Behind Bars.

The photos will be shot at a studio in Times Square. If you are in upstate New York, we can travel with our portable studio. But you would have to gather at least three people for the studio shots/video interviews for us to make the trip.

Please fill out the form below to schedule a studio appointment.

(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Jamila, left, plays on a seesaw with children of other female inmates on the prison yard of Pul-e Charkhi prison in Kabul, Afghanistan. Jamila, age 7 in the photo, and her mother Najiba who is serving a seven year sentence for adultery, have been in prison for since 2008. There are 226 young children in Afghanistan’s prisons, including many who were born there. They have committed no crime, but they live among the country’s 304 incarcerated women.

Family Life Behind Bars is posting a new photograph each week that captures the sense of isolation and struggle when families and friends are separated during incarceration. The gallery will also portray the joy of reunions. We want to also provide an international perspective by showcasing images of people’s experiences from around the world.

Many of these images (where credited) are provided with permission from the Associated Press. But we’d also like to showcase your experiences!

Many of these images (where credited) are provided with permission from the Associated Press. But we’d also like to showcase your experiences!

click for audio slideshow

Family Life Behind Bars has been working very slowly on a project that looks at the healthcare that is provided to inmates and the role families play in caring for someone in prison. The site had a great personal audio piece about one daughter’s attempts to care for her sick father in prison. We’ll keep plugging away at this angle.

In the meantime, the New York Times has an interesting piece about how more prisons are starting hospice programs as the prison population ages with many of them using inmate volunteers to ease the pain of dying in prison. Without family to help deal with the illness, the last days or months of life can be difficult. Fellow inmates can help deal that remaining time.

One prison healthcare official says that “inmate volunteers bond with the patients in a way that staff members cannot, taking on “the touchy-feely thing” that may be inappropriate between inmates and prison workers.”

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: How do you try to care for a family member who is in prison and ill?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646) 867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

Left alone with three children

The chances of seeing a parent go to prison have never been greater, especially for poor black Americans, and new research is documenting the long-term harm to the children they leave behind. Recent studies indicate that having an incarcerated parent doubles the chance that a child will be at least temporarily homeless and measurably increases the likelihood of physically aggressive behavior, social isolation, depression and problems in school — all portending dimmer prospects in adulthood, according to an article in the New York Times.

The project was fortunate to receive technical and editorial support from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and funding from J-Lab’s New Voices grant (which is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation). Much of what you see on the site could not have been produced without this support.

The New Voices grant allowed me to purchase equipment that I use in the media training workshops for community members who have been affected by incarceration and to pay the community columnists for their work.

The grant came with a challenge, however. I must raise $5,000 from the public in order to receive the final $5,000 installment from the Knight Foundation.

So I ask you for your generous support. Your donation is tax-deductable.

I must admit that I am not a fundraiser. I am happiest publishing the stories that so many families and individuals have been kind enough to share with us on the site and working with my students who are dedicated to accurately reporting pieces that might help clarify issues around incarceration. But I must also be a fundraiser to be able to continue publishing Family Life Behind Bars.

I know times are tough for everyone because of the free falling economy. But if you have found this site useful and relevant, please consider making a tax-deductible donation. No amount is too small!

Donating is easy and takes just a few minutes. Please click on the “Donation” right now. You do not need a Paypal account to make a donation.

Thank you for your support.

Sandeep Junnarkar
Founder & Editorial Director
Family Life Behind Bars

New Yorker Cartoon

Fair? unfair? Have you seen family members come out completely changed? Changed for the better? Changed for the worse?

1. Post them in the comments section below,
2. Call (646) 867-1891 to leave a message.

During the show I talked to Makeba about her own experience growing up with an incarcerated mother and her involvement with Lives in Focus.  We also discussed the misconceptions that some people have of children with incarcerated parents.

Content offered her own expertise, discussing the role of her organization and ways of breaking the cycle of incarceration.  Listen to the show below to hear what you missed.  We welcome feedback and suggestions for future shows so please leave a comment below.