What’s Prison Like? Learn With These Videos, Books And Links

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The KERA One Crisis Away project’s The Price Of Prison series chronicles the costs for the inmates behind bars, for the families left behind and for society as a whole.

Take in the accompanying educational resources below: a KERA Think interview, films, activities and book recommendations to start conversations and learn about incarceration’s toll.

Listen to the Think interview

 
» The High Cost Of Misdemeanors

Misdemeanors by definition are relatively minor crimes. UC-Irvine law professor Alexandra Natapoff talks with Think host Krys Boyd about how these infractions often tip vulnerable populations into poverty once the legal machine kicks in. Listen to the episode below or listen as a podcast on iTunes.

Help Kids Understand Incarceration

The incarceration of a loved one can be overwhelming for both children and caregivers. Because of the feeling of stigma, it takes special effort to start important conversations and answer kids’ questions.

Parents can comfort children and guide them through difficult moments just by talking. With love and support, the family can cope with the challenges of incarceration together.

Browse Sesame Street in Communities resources to help with these conversations, such as printable art activities, videos and articles.

Watch Digital films

 
Watch these investigative PBS documentaries to learn more about the varied effects of incarceration. Click through on the accompanying links to watch more films.

» POV Shorts: A Debtor’s Prison

In the hometown of police shooting victim Michael Brown and the surrounding municipalities, a practice with historical antecedents has become systematic: the operation of modern-day debtors’ prisons. A Debtors’ Prison follows two plaintiffs in an unfolding court case, Samantha Jenkins and Meredith Walker, as they describe the matrix of controls that subjected them to incarceration for being poor.

» Frontline Investigates: Locked Up In America

This investigative project goes inside the debate over mass incarceration in America.
 

 
» FRONTLINE Digital Exclusive: Stickup Kid

What happens when we lock up juvenile offenders in adult prisons? Stickup Kid, a FRONTLINE digital exclusive, tells the story of Alonza Thomas — sent to adult prison in California at age 16 — and how spending over a decade behind bars affected him. Watch the film here.

Dallas Public Library Digital resources

 
On the carousels below, you can:

• Browse book suggestions
• Click the titles to learn more about each book
• Reserve books

Dallas residents with a library card can reserve books using the carousels, then pick them up at their chosen branch location. Or, if you live in another area, these recommendations can introduce you to titles to find in your own library.

» Parents behind bars (titles for adults)

» Kids of incarcerated parents (children’s materials)