I found that roughly one-third
of the young people I spoke with
had a loved one behind bars.
(Recording) Girl: The hardest part
is like finding out where he's at,
or like, when his court date is.
Girl: Yeah, he went to jail
on my first birthday.
Girl: My dad works as a guard.
He saw my uncle in jail.
He's in there for life.
EA: According to the Annie E.
Casey Foundation,
the number of young people with a father
incarcerated rose 500 percent
between 1980 and 2000.
Over five million of today's children
will see a parent incarcerated
at some point in their childhoods.
But this number disproportionately
affects African American children.
By the time they reach the age of 14,
one in four black children
will see their dad go off to prison.
That's compared to a rate
of one in 30 for white children.
One key factor determining the future
success of both inmates and their children
is whether they can maintain ties
during the parent's incarceration,
but prisoners' phone calls home
can cost 20 to 30 times more
than regular phone calls,