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.
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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.”