Children who have a parent in prison face extraordinary challenges.

The shame, poverty and family instability put children at risk for winding-up in prison themselves when they are older.

One man knows firsthand about such matters, and he is trying to reverse the trend of prisoners' children later becoming prisoners themselves.

Pat Nolan is vice president of Prison Fellowship and he joined CBN News from Washington, D.C., to discuss why it is so important for children to have contact with their parents when they are incarcerated.

Nolan said that parents are often serving jail time hundreds of miles away from their children -- and that's a problem.

Click play to hear what his organization is doing to help those children.