This project, which examines the impact on family relations and dynamics when one or more member of a family is incarcerated, is getting an overhaul at several levels–from a new look to a new philosophy. The makeover is possible with the help of a generous grant.

Drew Geraets, the digital media manager for the project (and for CUNY Graduate School of Journalism), has created a multi-layered design that really captures the new philosophy having storytelling from various sources. The stories shared on this site will come from three sources:

1. Professional journalists will write profiles about people affected by incarceration and also provide news pieces about this subject.
2. People who have been affected by incarceration and who have attended media workshops will tell their own stories in their own words. We have a several new columnists who will join us, starting with Davian Reynolds who introduces himself in his first column.
3. The third group will be people who stumble across the site and want to share their own stories with this community. These folks can join the community to post their own photos, videos and audio.

I realize that not everyone has a broadband Internet connection to upload video, audio and photos, so I invite them to join the conversation by using their cell phones or home phones to call us and to leave a message. The number is 646-867-1891.

I also have several new columnists who will come online over the next month and some innovative Web programming that will begin to appear over the next month.

Come back often to visit, or subscribe to our RSS feed.

We are going to examine the impact of incarceration on families in a nuanced and intelligent way. With such a large number of Americans in prison, we need to have a better understanding of how this affects our communities and families.

Thank you to the Knight Foundation, J-Lab and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, among others, for helping to bring this important issue to light.

Sandeep Junnarkar
Editorial Director and Founder
Lives in Focus: Family Life Behind Bars

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Over the course of several perfectly sunny Saturday afternoons, I gathered a group of teenagers and young adults who have in some way been affected by having an incarcerated parent. We met at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, where I planned to teach them how to use video to document how their parents’ incarceration has affected their lives. (more…)

Ana Maria Toro, a graduate student at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, has joined Lives in Focus as a multimedia reporter for the summer. I would like to thank the school for allowing her to meet the internship requirement by working for the “Family Life Behind Bars” project.

Ana will be reporting and producing pieces using audio, video, photographs and text to help broaden the coverage.

Ana has been a student of mine for the past two semesters and independently of this project has been covering the criminal justice system. She is a determined reporter who has some experience working for the Spanish language press in New York. (Click here for her bio.)

The summer always winds up flying so I plan to keep her very busy. I know she is going to get a lot out of this experience. But more than that, Ana is also actually getting paid by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism (as are other students at non-paying internships) so there is no exploitation involved!

Ana’s first piece will be posted later today.

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Even after his wife gave birth to twins, Jay Coleman, now 51, admits he remained enamored with the high he got from committing crime rather than being a family man.

“I hadn’t had the responsibility of having children long enough to develop that sense that, ‘Okay, I may not think about the future for myself but I have to think about the future for my children,” Coleman said in a recent interview. “I wasn’t there yet. I wasn’t there for many years.”

In 1981, less than a year after the birth of his children, Coleman was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to prison in upstate New York for 25 years-to-life. It was during this separation from his family that Coleman evolved from petty criminal to a responsible father and husband.

In this series of interview clips, Coleman, who completed his 25 years and rejoined his family on October 28, 2005, talks about his first crime, his eventual incarceration and how he worked to strengthen his family ties from behind bars. This is the first clip of the series.

Flash |QuickTime

Lives in Focus recently filmed a monthly support group meeting in Albany, New York, at which the mothers, sisters and wives of incarcerated family members sought support from among their peers.

They shared their daily tribulations and discussed long-terms concerns about their lives and relationships.

We will post short segments of the meeting over the next few months. This week, we meet Devon who describes how having two imprisoned family members has both drawn her kin closer while also stirring tensions.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS: What tensions have emerged between you and your friends and family during a relative’s incarceration? How have you soothed this strain or are you still seething?

[Use the comments feature below or call (646) 867-1891 to leave an audio message.]

Lives in Focus plans to cover an event at Rutgers that has a similar ring to it: “Behind Bars: The Impact of Incarceration on Women and Their Families”

While our work is based on journalism-style interviews, photographs, audio and video, this conference convenes a group of academics and practitioners to explore the impact and legal implications of incarceration on women and their families at the 2007 symposium of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter at Rutgers School of Law–Newark.

I urge those interested in the topic to attend. The conference will take place from 12:30 – 4 pm on Wednesday, March 7, in the law school’s Baker Trial Courtroom. More info on their website.

Professor Brenda V. Smith of Washington College of Law, American University, will be the keynote speaker for the first panel, which will focus on women’s issues while incarcerated.

Professor Philip Genty of Columbia Law School will keynote the second panel. This panel will consider the impact of a woman’s imprisonment on her family.

This project examines the impact on family relations and dynamics when one or more member of a family is incarcerated. How do some families overcome the separation, financial strain, social stigma and guilt while others crumble? Why is there a greater likelihood that a child of someone who is in prison will also end up in jail at some point? How do society, politics or special interests help or hinder family relations?

For example, many states currently allow telephone companies to penalize inmates and their families by charging a staggering connection surcharge (about $3) and higher per minute rates (upto 16 cents) for collect phone calls–—a regressive toll in an age of unlimited local and long distance calling. This at a time when research and experience shows that inmates who stay in touch with their families are likelier to have a smooth transition back to civil society when released.How do such obstacles impact the relationship between a parent and child (both the parent who remains at home and the one in prison)? Between husband and wife? Between siblings? How are family relations re-established when a prisoner is released? What are the unforeseen consequences of being released? What efforts do inmates make to stay in touch from within prison walls?

Lives in Focus is NOT questioning the guilty verdict that sent people to prison. We also recognize that many crimes upset the lives of others–in extreme cases even depriving families of their own loved ones. We do believe, however, that it is important to document and be aware of the repercussions that imprisonment has on an inmate’s family, a large and growing population in America.