Survey: Understanding the financial impact of imprisonment on families and children

21st January 2025

As part of the Irish Penal Reform Trust’s (IPRT) Children and Families Initiative, we have commissioned a piece of research to explore the financial impact on children and families in Ireland when a family member is imprisoned.   

This research builds on IPRT’s previous research in 2012 “Picking up the Pieces”: The Rights and Needs of Children and Families Affected by Imprisonment and the updated report Piecing it Together: Supporting Children and Families with a Family Member in Prison in Ireland examining the rights and needs of children and families impacted by imprisonment. Now entering the third year of the project, we have designed a detailed programme of strategic actions, focused on bringing about and embedding long-term change. In 2023, we also published Maternal Imprisonment: A Scoping Study. Research and developing a strong evidence base is one strand to progressing one of our overarching goals to tackle intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and imprisonment through supporting family relationships and return from prison to the community. 

We believe this research is necessary to better understand how poverty impacts children, young people and their families when a family member is imprisoned. Child poverty is a complex issue affecting more than 180,000 children and young individuals in Ireland, hindering their ability to achieve their full potential. When a family member goes to prison, existing financial challenges can escalate or new financial challenges can present with the loss of a wage-earner, changes in housing, reduced availability of childcare and the cost of visiting and supporting a person in prison. However, no comprehensive examination into the relationship between poverty and family imprisonment in Ireland has taken place to date, particularly with a focus on children and families of prisoners and the associated costs of having a family member in prison. 

IPRT has commissioned TASC – the Think-tank for Action on Social Change to conduct this research. As part of this new research, we are circulating a survey to explore family members’ experiences of the financial impact of imprisonment. This survey aims to identify the key costs associated with imprisonment on family members and, if possible, to quantify the average weekly/monthly costs associated with imprisonment for survey participants. We will also seek to identify how imprisonment impacts the daily lives of children in terms of their health and wellbeing and their ability to participate fully in education, sports and social events.

IPRT is seeking to reach a diverse number of families throughout Ireland who have been affected by imprisonment (in the past two years). The insights gathered from this survey will serve as a foundation for our research and its recommendations to inform IPRT’s Pre-Budget proposals and further policy work.

The survey is available online at: https://form.jotform.com/250094860503049.
A printable version of this survey is also available and can be downloaded below.

We encourage people to share this survey with their networks to ensure we get as many responses as possible. Please note that the deadline for completing this survey is 11 February 2025. For more information, please contact Sara Singleton, Head of Public Education at TASC, at ssingleton@tasc.ie.