# Do (US) Prisons Try To Separate Relatives?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-us-prisons-try-to-separate-relatives/697159>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 1, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-us-prisons-try-to-separate-relatives/697159 "2014-09-01T15:24:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-us-prisons-try-to-separate-relatives/697159/1 "2014-09-01T15:24:16Z")

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If my father, brother, cousin, etc. were incarcerated for a crime, and later I became incarcerated for a crime, would whoever makes those decisions make it a point to keep the two of us in separate facilities (or, for that matter, in the same facility)? Or do you get put wherever there is room, regardless of who else is there?

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-us-prisons-try-to-separate-relatives/697159/2 "2014-09-01T16:49:43Z")

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Here is an article about a father and son who not only were sent to the same prison, but also share a cell.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/nyregion/in-state-prison-father-and-son-make-good-cellmates.html?pagewanted=all&\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/nyregion/in-state-prison-father-and-son-make-good-cellmates.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

> [@](#):
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> Although there are few relatives sharing cells, intergenerational incarceration — family members who have ever been imprisoned, in the same or different facilities — is not uncommon around the country. Of the estimated 600,000 parents of minor children in the nation’s state prisons in 2004, half had a relative who was currently or used to be incarcerated, according to a federal Bureau of Justice Statistics report.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-us-prisons-try-to-separate-relatives/697159/3 "2014-09-01T17:24:57Z")

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In my experience, there’s no policy of separating relatives. We only do it in particular cases if there’s a problem.

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**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-us-prisons-try-to-separate-relatives/697159/4 "2014-09-01T21:44:13Z")

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Here in Texas, I know a woman who two sons were both convicted of the same murder, and were sent to different prisons.