On Feb. 13 Nicarry Hall, the Elizabethtown College Criminal Justice Club held a presentation called “When a Loved One is Incarcerated,” given by president of the club Olivia Sullivan.
After a brief 10-minute club meeting about upcoming events for this semester, Sullivan began by playing a video by Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), a channel dedicated to spreading awareness of incarceration’s devastating effects. These clips chronicled several young adults who struggled with feelings of confusion and loss that follow a loved one’s arrest and incarceration. Families walk away from incarcerations—already emotionally devastating events in their own right—with an average of $13,000 in accumulated debt. These videos were illuminating in the way that they affirmed these feelings of shame, betrayal and “disenfranchised grief” that impacts so many. According to the presentation, half of all children in the United States today have at least one parent who is incarcerated or has a previous history with the criminal justice system.
After the video, Sullivan presented a series of statistics about incarceration of family members that solidified just how important support for this sect of people is. Given how common it is for incarceration to impact families, 65% of the remaining families cannot meet their needs due to said incarcerations.
“Through my time as a criminal justice major and through my internship work thus far, I’ve come to realize our country’s legal system is riddled with problems,” Sullivan said after her presentation. “If no one is stopping to take time and think about those affected by that system, who is going to be there to support them?”
After raising the awareness of familial relationships impacted by incarceration through these videos and statistics, Sullivan put her experience to use and included methods of support. Among the most important pieces of advice Sullivan personally included were maintaining consistent contact, not offering unsolicited advice, not gossipping and being a patient and enduring listener.
One student present, a junior humanities student that chose to keep her name anonymous for familial purposes, said she felt “seen” by the event.
“My brother was incarcerated when I was in elementary school, and since that time I had not seen anything offered like this,” she said “It felt good to know that my feelings of loss were valid and that I wasn’t alone.”
Sullivan said she felt inspired to put on the presentation from her time at her internship at Benchmark, where she works with many kids with incarcerated parents.
“That experience made me take time to reflect, as Valentine’s Day was coming up, who may be affected by mass incarceration,” Sullivan said. “As the leader of a club on this campus, I have the ability to use my platform and spread awareness about topics that are not talked about enough. This was my chance to do that.”
Alongside regular club meetings this semester, the Criminal Justice Club is planning a trip to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, hosting a crime related movie night, planning a fundraiser with the Etown Democrats and hosting a drug safety and opioid awareness day. Updates can be found on the group’s Instagram page @etowncjclub.
