A Family Sentence: The Hidden Impact of Parental Imprisonment
by Jemmar Samuels
I vividly remember being in primary school and my teacher punishing the entire class because of one student’s behaviour. I argued that it wasn’t fair—I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I couldn’t control someone else’s actions. But my protests were ignored. It wasn’t until years later while reading Leah Cowan’s ‘Why Should Feminists Trust the Police?’ that I came across the term “collective punishment”. My eyes lit up.
The History
Collective punishment, penalising a group for the actions of an individual, was weaponised under British rule to control and suppress anti-colonial resistance. The Collective Punishment Ordinance of 1909 in Kenya gave the colonial government power to penalise entire communities if an individual was suspected of disobeying order. Similarly, in ‘British Palestine’, the 1924–25 Collective Responsibility and Punishment Ordinance targeted rural farms and villages, imposing collective fines on communities if individuals from those areas were found guilty of crimes (Whittaker, 2015).
Although it was later prohibited under international law, the legacy of collective punishment remains deeply embedded in the British legal system today. Joint enterprise laws, which disproportionately target young Black boys, criminalise individuals for crimes they did not commit under the premise of shared intent.
Carceral systems, while punishing individuals, inflict collective harm on familial and social networks. Natalie Booth (2020) describes this as a “family sentence”. It manifests in several ways, including social stigma, generational trauma and economic instability. Children of imprisoned parents are left particularly vulnerable, facing an increased risk of mental health problems, poor educational attainment and future offending.
Despite parental imprisonment being recognised as an adverse childhood experience (ACE), it does not meet the threshold for children’s social care, nor does it trigger any other kind of support for the child.
Speaking with Sarah Beresford, a Prison Reform Trust Associate, she said: “children with a parent in the justice system remain largely invisible and unsupported in the very systems that claim to protect them. It is unforgivable that, despite widespread awareness among policymakers and politicians of the harmful impact on children, so little has been done to address this”.
Origins of The Collective Punishment Campaign
In June 2019, my parents (mother and stepfather) were arrested. I knew that my life would change, but even now several years later, I cannot find the words to describe what happened. My brain, in an attempt to protect me, fragmented my memory and I still can’t recall the events in chronological order.
We all know, in an abstract sense, that every day there are people across the country who are arrested and imprisoned. What we rarely consider is how many of them are parents, or how many families, children in particular, are left behind in the wreckage. The truth is, no one knows. The government does not collect comprehensive data on how many parents are imprisoned and how many children are impacted. Without this data, there is no recognition, no support and no accountability.
In September 2022, I founded the Collective Punishment Campaign (CPC). I realised the criminal legal system isn’t broken; it’s working exactly as it was designed to. The state doesn’t seek justice, it seeks punishment. And in its relentless pursuit, inflicts collective harm on entire communities and families as a so-called deterrent. Collective Punishment exists to raise awareness of and fight against this practice. Led by and for individuals who have lived through this experience, it’s the first campaign of its kind in the UK.
Thanks to funding from Synergi, we are now able to facilitate in-person listening sessions for adults—something that has never existed before. While parental imprisonment organisations do exist, they exclusively support children and families who currently have or recently had a parent in prison.
Abolition and Community Responses
Despite various reports highlighting the impact of imprisonment on families, no specific UK government entity takes responsibility for this issue. While funding is provided to numerous organisations supporting prisoners’ families, key government bodies like the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, and Children’s Commissioner do not assume responsibility.
In March 2022, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) published The Golden Thread: Putting Family at the Heart of the Criminal Justice System, calling on the government to improve support for families navigating the criminal justice system. Instead of implementing policies that support families, the government has only continued to push punitive measures. The Labour Party did briefly acknowledge the children of prisoners in their 2024 manifesto but soon after, Keir Starmer launched Labour’s Community Policing Guarantee, promising to “make streets safe again” by placing “more police in your town”. Just recently, in a shocking and now deleted TikTok video going around on X (Twitter), the party states that “you’ll feel safer with police on the beat”. The narrative that more police equate to safer streets fails to recognise the historic harm that over-policing has caused in racialised and working-class communities.
The Independent Sentencing Review 2024-25 was commissioned in response to the prison overcrowding crisis. In the foreword, David Gauke writes that England and Wales now have the highest incarceration rate in Western Europe, and the prison population is projected to grow by 4,500 people per year. Despite the review’s stated aim of addressing these systemic failures and exploring sentencing reform, Gauke does not challenge the root cause fuelling prison overcrowding, saying: “sentences must punish offenders and protect the public – there must always be space in prison for the most dangerous offenders”.
Regardless of who’s in power, we live in a society that advocates for a “tough on crime” approach, insisting that the only way to prevent crime or reduce reoffending is through harsher sentences and expanded policing.
For over two decades, reports like The Golden Thread have made policy recommendations that would truly support the needs of families and children affected by parental imprisonment. These include:
- Trauma-informed practice and training to address the emotional impact of parental arrest.
- Social care support for dependents affected by imprisonment.
- Ensuring respectful interactions with relatives in custody.
- Involving families in release planning to prepare prisoners for life after prison, allowing them to play a role in rehabilitation.
These policies have not been implemented, and the government’s failure to address this issue is, as the CSJ put it— “scandalous”.
Centring Lived Experience
Solutions to tackle the impact of parental imprisonment must be led by and for those of us with lived experience. The reality is that Black and brown communities, particularly those from working-class backgrounds, are disproportionately criminalised. Yet, the organisations shaping criminal justice are dominated by white middle-class people who are far removed from state violence.
Doing this work as a Black working-class woman has been challenging. I’m not taken seriously and am often overlooked and undermined. Funding is another barrier, especially as an unregistered group with a clear abolitionist message. Philanthropy, much like the criminal legal system, is controlled by white, middle-class decision-makers. The revolution will not be funded. Those who benefit from the system will not fund its dismantling.
Despite the barriers, Collective Punishment remains committed to its mission to convene. Not just to mobilise, but to engage the community in healing and radical imagination about abolitionist futures. Collectives such as We Got Us Now in the US and Yung Prodigy in so-called Australia give me hope and inspire me.
Take Action
Regardless of how you feel about prisons or prisoners, the fact remains that their families and children should not be punished alongside them. The lack of public awareness and lack of policy to protect children from the long-term harms of imprisoned parents represent not just a governmental failure but a societal one. I say this as someone who only began to care when my own family was affected.
We need just and supportive systems that prioritise care and accountability over punishment. Instead of reforming a system designed to harm, we must focus on abolitionist solutions. You cannot reform a system that is not broken. You can only dismantle it.
Jemmar Samuels is the founder of the Collective Punishment Campaign, which exists to tackle the impact of parental imprisonment/familial criminalisation on families, particularly children.
Collective Punishment will be hosting a Solidarity Space on Saturday 15th March at 2 Beehive Place, London, SW9 7QR. Register here
If you’re a teacher, youth worker or similar, familiarise yourself with the Prison Reform Trust’s recently published toolkit “This is Me”: A Child Impact Assessment toolkit, to better support children with a mum in the criminal justice system.
Read Dr Mine Conkbayir’s books Helping Children to Thrive After Adverse Childhood Experiences: ‘Maya’s ACE Adventures!’ Storybook and Adult Guide
You can follow social media accounts for The Collective Punishment Campaign below:
