Reuben Jonathan Miller: “Incarceration reverberates through the family system”

“‘Incarceration reverberates through the family system,’ says Reuben Jonathan Miller, a professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice [and JLUSA board member]. His research on mass incarceration earned him a MacArthur ‘genius’ grant in 2022. ‘It’s more than emotional. There are jobs you might avoid because of the hours you need to be available for calls. Loans you take out to pay for legal bills.’ The list goes on. ‘Families experience their own collateral consequences — their own form of incarceration.’

For Chrishona, the toll of [her son] Jerryon’s incarceration takes many forms. There’s the money, for one.

“Over time, the impact of cumulative stress can be profound. Research shows that those with loved ones in prison suffer higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and heart failure. Chrishona [Hodges], 44, already sees the fingerprint of stress on her medical charts. She’s had to take several leaves of absence from her remote job as a patient access advocate with Endeavor Health because of high blood pressure. And her arthritis has been acting up, too. ‘At the end of the day, mothers are sitting with the weight of their child’s health as they sit inside cells,’ continues Miller. ‘They bear that burden.’

“For Chrishona, the toll of [her son] Jerryon’s incarceration takes many forms. There’s the money, for one. To raise $25,000 for a lawyer to represent Jerryon, she had to borrow from her siblings and cash out some of her 401(k). She’s also spent thousands of dollars more for phone and text communication with her son in jail and for deposits for him in the prison commissary. Then there are the hours spent consoling Jerryon and passing along his messages to friends and family he cannot reach directly. The sleep lost from worrying about Jerryon’s mental health. The time spent splitting childcare with Jerryon’s ex-girlfriend to help raise Malani, who calls Chrishona ‘Ma.’ And all the while, there are the ever-accumulating painful moments that rise up when she feels her son’s absence most sharply: an empty house, missed birthdays, holidays without him. But despite the relentless hardships, Chrishona still holds her family together, keeps Jerryon connected to Malani, and fiercely cultivates joy — not just for herself, but for everyone around her.

“Chrishona’s reality reflects a staggeringly common one: In the United States, one in four women have a loved one behind bars. And for Black women, that number jumps to one in two. That means more than 42 million women, and 10 million Black women, in America are currently drawn into the punishing ambit of the country’s carceral system — 42 million women left with just the blurry contours of a person, a pixelated face on a screen. …

“As long as Jerryon sits behind bars, Chrishona feels trapped, too.”

Read the full story at ChicagoMag.com.