20 More than half the women in prison report committing their offense under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 22 Seventy-two percent of women prisoners with children under age 18 lived with those children before entering prison. 23 Six percent of women entering prison are pregnant. At the end of 1998, there were more than 1.2 million men incarcerated in state and federal prisons. The typical male inmate grew up in a single parent home and has at least one family member who has been incarcerated.
Most male offenders have limited education and poor employment skills.
Thirty-two percent of men in prison have two or more children under the age of 18. On any given day, there are more than 500,000 fathers in prison. No one knows for certain how many children in this country have an incarcerated parent. Estimates suggest, though, that nearly 200,000 children under age 18 have an imprisoned mother and more than 1.7 million have an imprisoned father. A. Children with Incarcerated Fathers Ninety percent of children with incarcerated fathers are living with their mothers.