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Everyone makes poor decisions at some point in their lives, some of those decisions can unfortunately get you incarcerated but there are also, unfortunately, some people that are in prison that happen to be innocent of the crimes for which they are serving time. There are also many other circumstances, especially with women, that can result in incarceration. Why a person has been incarcerated profoundly affects their emotional outlook.

When you have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison, the statistics for your child's successful future are horrifying and just to get it across to you, authorities will explain to you just how you have ruined your children's lives by allowing yourself to be put this position. Your children are just another tool for controlling your actions and emotions to law enforcement and the judiciary.

It is true that there are a lot of things that you can't do for your children while you are in prison but the assertion that because you are in prison means that you didn't care about your children is just plain ignorance. In a lot of instances, the reason that a person has been incarcerated is because they just didn't care enough about themselves and it's hard to be a good parent if you don't care about yourself. So prison can actually give you the time to work on both. As for the ignorance of others, I can say that no one accuses military personnel stationed away from their families of not caring about their children and no matter the reason for a parent's absence; it's still a loss to the child. How a child is raised to deal with that loss, determines their future.

Someone who is not familiar with law enforcement and our judicial and prison systems can never really understand the emotional stamina that it takes just to get through each day. But your children can pick up on your emotions whether they are with you or not.

In order to be a good parent after incarceration, you must first be honest with yourself. If you have made a mistake, you must own up to it otherwise your children will forever be angry with the wrong people.

You must explain why your mistake was so bad that it caused you to be incarcerated, otherwise your children will think that they could possibly be incarcerated for not doing simple things that they have been told to do.

Don't be afraid of letting your children visit you in the prison. Children are not afraid of prisons unless someone is making them afraid. The actual buildings themselves are not unlike what they

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