Minnesota Jails To Offer Children Visits and Parenting Classes; Part of Governor Walz's Budget Proposal

The Governor's budget proposal would expand the program allowing more children to visit their parents in prison. 

Governor Tim Walz's budget proposal for 2023 to 2025 includes the Minnesota Department of Health's recommendation, allowing $1.125 million in grants for model jail practices and in-person visits to be implemented in more Minnesota jails. 

Only six jails across the state have the visitation program. These are Sherburne County Jail, Carlton County Jail, Olmsted County Jail, Renville County Jail, Ramsey County Correctional Facility, and Stearns County Jail. 

With the additional funding from the budget proposal, 15 more jails will have the visitation program and other services such as parenting classes and peer-to-peer support in jails. 

Kids' visits as 'lifeline' for inmates

Thirty-one-year-old Quannel "Nel" Hobson was sentenced to eight months at Ramsey County Correctional Facility. He has already served seven months and will be released after a month. 

When asked what keeps him strong while incarcerated, he answered that the weekly hour-long visits of his son have been his "lifeline." 

His two-year-old son visits him every Sunday, and they play with his kid's favorite wooden toy blocks inside a child-friendly room at the jail. 

The visitation program of the jail is " a blessing," for Hobson, who emphasized how his little boy's visits became his "greatest motivation to stay on the right track." 

Indeed, it is a unique blessing as not all parents get this wonderful opportunity like him. 

Most jails in Minnesota are not allowing in-person visits yet between incarcerated parents and their young ones, according to the Department of Corrections. And this can be heartbreaking since an estimated 67 percent of adults in Minnesota jail are parents with minor children. According to a state report, most of them lived with their minor kids before their jail time, and most desired to participate in parenting education. 

The report also said that 17 percent of the state's youth have parents that are presently or previously imprisoned, and the separation is one of the most reported "adverse childhood experiences." 

Read More: Ex-Incarcerated Father Gives Back by Helping Imprisoned Parents Who Can't Be With Their Children

Visitation to help in healing children's trauma

Rebecca Shlafer, a pediatrics researcher at the University of Minnesota specializing in studying the effects of incarceration on children and families, stressed that the imprisonment of parents and the separation heightens children's risk of having poor outcomes in their adolescence and their adulthood. It can lead to substance addiction and mental health and education struggles. 

"It is really about trying to help heal some of the trauma that could have happened in the context of their parents' incarceration. Helping parents reconnect with their kids, helping kids understand their parents are safe. Sometimes kids don't know where their parents went so being able to see and touch and hold them is important," Shlafer told MPR News. 

The average length of stay at the Ramsey County jail for women is 38, while 48 days for men. Shlafer stated that despite the shorter prison sentences, it still can be "equally or more disruptive" for the kids due to uncertainty. 

Related article: Nashville-Based Nonprofit Helps Kids by Helping Their Parents to Parent Effectively