Felons Need Not Apply: The Tough-on-crime Era’s Felony Welfare Benefits Ban and its Impact on Families with a Formerly Incarcerated Parent

Although incarceration rates have begun to decline, the collateral consequences of mass incarceration persist, especially for families and communities of color. Following incarceration, families often face relationship, social, and financial challenges. Yet, social welfare benefits that can support families experiencing poverty frequently exclude people with felony convictions. One such social welfare policy—the focus of this paper—is the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which bars people with felony drug convictions from accessing social welfare benefits. With 60% of incarcerated parents having felony drug convictions, this policy precludes almost 200,000 families from accessing welfare benefits and disproportionately impacts single mothers and people of color. In this paper, we analyze PRWORA as it relates to social welfare and family inequity in the era of mass incarceration. Guided by an intersectionality framework, we address the following aims: (1) demonstrate how PRWORA may act as a form of institutional racism embedded within mass incarceration; and (2) analyze the impact of PRWORA’s felony welfare benefits ban on families impacted by incarceration. We conclude with recommendations for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working toward better outcomes for the formerly incarcerated.