The curious invisibility of the children of prisoners in Canadian criminal justice policy
Children of prisoners face a variety of risks. In Canada, little is known about this population and their needs are poorly met. Lack of information and the failure of criminal justice policy to provide any consistent or comprehensive service or recognition renders these children ‘invisible’. Drawing on a recent qualitative study of parental incarceration in Canada, I analyse this issue and show that the experiences and needs of children are particularly vulnerable to invisibility. This invisibility, it is argued, allows prison systems to avoid accepting any responsibility for prisoners’ families, thus serving the ideology at the heart of the criminal justice system that sees prisoners in a punitive and pathologizing light.