Recent research suggests that children of prisoners are at risk for a range of
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year in England and Wales. It is argued that prisoners and their children are
vulnerable to multiple types of social exclusion, including: pre-existing
deprivation; loss of material and social capital following imprisonment; stigma;
‘linguistic exclusion’; political exclusion; poor future
prospects; and administrative invisibility. Despite the apparent prevalence and
urgency of the problem, the population of children of prisoners is unmonitored,
under-researched and unsupported by the statutory sector. In the UK, failure to
support children of prisoners reflects an era of punitive penal policy, and a lack
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