Jeri Ross lost her father to incarceration when she was 10 and then, as an adult, spent decades wishing she could visit him. But he was housed in a prison 3,000 miles away from her Santa Cruz home. In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to change that pattern for the 195,000 kids who currently have a parent or guardian in state prison. The “Keep Families Close” bill orders the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to place a parent, legal guardian or caregiver of a minor child in the correctional facility closest to the family’s home. Ross celebrates the bill and what it means for kids.
Jeri Ross
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
My father went to prison when I was 10 — I’m one of 2 million children with incarcerated parents
When Jeri Ross was 10, her father disappeared. Her mom and grandmother told her he was at a “training school,” but really, he was a notorious drug trafficker who was sentenced to life in prison. She and her sister spent three decades visiting him in various penitentiaries across the country. In 2019, Ross — a Santa Cruz resident for close to 50 years — published a memoir about her complicated relationship with her dad. Here, she reminds us that 2 million children in the U.S. have incarcerated parents. Speaking out, she says, “offers hope and healing.”