Families

For the millions of children with a parent in prison or jail, separation from their parent is traumatic and can have long-term effects on their development. For parents who are incarcerated, strong family relationships are an essential source of support. And youth detained and incarcerated in juvenile justice facilities are removed from their natural supports, negatively impacting their stability and well-being. Our team works with justice agencies and community-based organizations to promote programs that cultivate relationships and engage families in the reentry process. For more information, visit Supporting Incarcerated Parents and Their Families.
News and Analysis

Key Staff


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Deputy Program Director, Corrections and Reentry
Valerie Carpico leads the work for planning and implementing initiatives to reduce recidivism, strengthen family engagement, and improve reentry outcomes for the Addressing the Needs of Incarcerated Parents and Their Minor Children grant program and the Reentry 2030 initiative. Previously,
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Valerie was the reentry coordinator in Fairfield County, Ohio, where she leveraged partnerships between law enforcement and behavioral health. In this role, she facilitated a local reentry coalition of community agencies and coordinated new behavioral health programming within the local jail. She also served as the Stepping Up coordinator, setting new goals and initiatives for her county focused on sober housing, jail screening tools, and a crisis stabilization facility. Valerie holds a BS in criminal justice from Ohio University and an MS in justice administration from Tiffin University. 
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    Senior Policy Analyst, Corrections and Reentry 
    Nicole Hendricks provides technical assistance to federal grantees, focusing on improving outcomes for children of incarcerated parents and families impacted by incarceration. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, she was a professor at Holyoke Community College, where she co-founded
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    and led Western Mass CORE, a higher education in prison program that offers college courses inside local jails. During her tenure, she also chaired the Department of Criminal Justice and coordinated the Gender and Women's Studies program. Nicole's previous experience includes work as a research associate at the Vera Institute of Justice, where she served as the principal investigator of an NIJ-funded study on law enforcement relations with Arab American communities post-9/11 and conducted research on policing, violence prevention, victimization, and racial disparities in the criminal legal system. She received a BA in anthropology and African American studies from Wesleyan University and an MPA from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.
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    Senior Policy Analyst, Corrections and Reentry
    Tiana Smith provides technical assistance to federal grantees engaged in strategies to improve outcomes at systems and programmatic levels. Previously, she worked at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, where she provided comprehensive grant management and technical assistance to
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    the federal, state, and local governments and nonprofit agencies within the adult criminal justice system that received state and federal funding to implement evidence-based programs throughout Pennsylvania. She also worked as a discharge and release coordinator, state mental health case manager, and second chance reentry specialist. Tiana holds a BA in human services from La Roche University and an MS in criminal justice administration from Point Park University.
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