News release: "An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation’s prison at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, according to a report by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Parents in prison — 52 percent of state inmates and 63 percent of federal inmates — reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children. Among state inmates, the percent of parents in prison decreased from 55 percent in 1997 but has remained stable for federal inmates."