They're both overcrowded. They both have cafeterias and fenced yards and detention. Teachers, like prison guards, have a huge impact on the inmates' quality of life. And just like prisoners, students are much more than the sum of the data contained in their records. Judging them by past performance alone is unfair.
Incarcerated parents care about their children.
Many inmates tell me their children are the reason they want to turn their lives around. Like other parents, they want their kids to look up to them. Like other parents, they want to help their kids. Educators need to be more sensitive to students with incarcerated parents. Given that most inmates are parents and that the prison population is growing at an astonishing rate, more and more of us will have students with incarcerated family members in our classrooms each year.