In the United States, more than half of all incarcerated people are parents — meaning the prison system punishes their families, too. The prison system separates loved ones from their families, breaks down support systems and destabilizes whole communities — particularly communities of color. Visitation hours are severely limited; phone calls can be prohibitively expensive. On top of all this, families of incarcerated people often cope with social stigma, economic insecurity and long periods of separation.

Join The 19th for a critical conversation on the impact of mass incarceration on families, with people who’ve navigated the criminal justice system as parents, children and lawyers.

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Brittany K. Barnett (@MsBKB) is the founder of Girls Embracing Mothers and the co-founder of the Buried Alive Project. In her memoir “A Knock at Midnight,” she examines the impact of her mother’s incarceration on her decision to become a lawyer fighting for people serving life sentences.

Sylvia A. Harvey (@Ms_SAH) is an award-winning journalist and the author of “The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family.” Her exposé is informed by her firsthand experience as the daughter of an incarcerated father.

Sharanda Jones (@SharandaJones) is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of the Buried Alive Project. After serving nearly 17 years of a life sentence for a first-time drug offense, Jones was granted clemency by President Obama in late 2015.

Christina Swarns (@ChristinaSwarns) is the executive director of the Innocence Project. She has served as the attorney-in-charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender (OAD) in New York and the litigation director of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

Moderated by Errin Haines (@EMarvelous), an award-winning journalist and The 19th's editor-at-large. Previously, she was the national writer on race for the Associated Press, and a reporter at The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.

Jocelyn Jackson (@JocelynKJackson) is the co-founder of People's Kitchen Collective (PKC) in Oakland and a LEAP artist grantee. She is also the founder of JUSTUS Kitchen.

W.J. Lofton (@WJLofton1) is a poet, director and LEAP artist grantee. He is the author of the poetry book “A Garden for Black Boys Between the Stages of Soil and Stardust.”

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Live With The 19th: How mass incarceration impacts families