The Montana Innocence Project highlights the important work of like-minded people and organizations. Today, we are sharing the story of Christiane Joy Allison, an author and criminal justice reform activist from Wasilla, Alaska.
Christiane’s husband, Clayton Allison was wrongfully convicted in Alaska on February 13th, 2015 for charges of Second-Degree Murder, Manslaughter, and Criminally Negligent Homicide for the 2008 death of their daughter Jocelynn. The State’s case relied on a diagnosis of the highly controversial “Shaken Baby Syndrome,” which is now most commonly referred to as Abusive Head Trauma.
On July 26, 2019, the Alaska Court of Appeals overturned his wrongful conviction. The case went to retrial in February of 2023 where Clayton was exonerated of the Second-Degree Murder and Manslaughter charges that were leveled against him, but was wrongfully convicted again of Criminally Negligent Homicide. He was sentenced in June of 2023, and it was determined then that he would not go back to prison for the charges, as he has already served more years than the maximum sentence on the current charge. They are currently in the process of appealing the new decision and are continuing to fight for his innocence.
Christiane’s personal experience with the wrongful incarceration of a loved one further inspired the development of her children’s picture book series, ‘Where is Uncle?’ for young children struggling with issues related to the criminal legal and carceral systems.
Her first book, ‘Why Can’t Uncle Come Home? A story for children struggling with the wrongful conviction of a loved one,’ was written as a reflection of the experiences she watched her niece and nephew go through upon navigating the absence of their uncle.
“The characters in the books are actually illustrated as my niece and nephew. I wrote the books for them so that when they read them they can see themselves.”
Christiane explained that when she initially looked for ways to explain to her young relatives what was happening to their uncle, she found difficulty in finding resources. This further led Christiane, with the help of her illustrator friend, Liz Shine, to take it upon themselves to fill that void.
“I think it is really critical for these books to exist because the need is there, and it has been there for decades, but there has just not been enough resources created.”
Upon watching her niece and nephew visit their uncle in prison, Christiane was inspired to create her second book, ‘Timmy & Kate Go To Visit: A story for children visiting a loved one in prison,’ to help address the fears and questions of children visiting a loved one in prison.
“Rightful, wrongful, it doesn’t matter, this book is for any child that is going to be going through that prison visitation experience,” Christiane said. “My books give you the words you don’t have, so you can explain these complex concepts to children.”
Over five million children in the United States have experienced the incarceration of a parent.
The impacts on loved ones of incarcerated persons can be long-lasting for children, even after they have been released. Research has shown that these experiences can lead to a host of different challenges and difficulties for children including: significant sense of loss, low self-esteem, depression, social isolation, stigma, shame, and fear.
“These traumatic experiences affect their mental health through and through,” Christiane said. “That is just the reality, which can be really hard for people to face. When children are denied access to people that they love and care about that can directly inflict trauma all by itself.”
Christiane described the incarceration of a loved one as being an Adverse Childhood Experience or “ACE” for individuals under the age of 18 regardless of the circumstances of that conviction and incarceration.
“ACEs are known to have an impact on a child’s brain development and physical health that can affect them into their entire adulthood,” Christiane said. “Intervening at an early age and helping them to address those experiences and heal early on can really be beneficial.”
Christiane recalled her nephew asking her the question ‘Where is uncle?’ dozens of times during the time that her husband was incarcerated, and expressed the straining impacts it had on her and her family. This question further inspired the title of her series, and sparked the need to bring more awareness towards these subjects.
“My experience before but also more since the books have been published is that the terrible truth is that when you are not as honest as you can be with a child, especially about something related to the criminal justice system, they tend to make up an answer for themselves, and that answer almost always tends to be worse,” Christiane said.
Resources like Christiane’s ‘Where is Uncle?’ series can help families to have open conversations and reduce the stigma of incarceration, by building children’s understanding of the experience.
“My hope is that these books can act as a resource for families and children that are directly affected…but also to have the possibility to spread awareness in the mind of a child,” Christiane said.
Her books help children to know that they’re not alone, nor are they the only ones who have gone through similar situations.
“You can’t allow yourself to lose hope,” Christina said. “I had to understand for myself that it was okay to be happy and that it was okay to enjoy the moment, despite the fact that every moment is painful. You have to take care of yourself by making sure you are addressing your physical and mental health so that you can benefit you and your loved one, because that is really what will help you survive the race.”
To purchase or to learn more information about her children’s books visit her website @allisonpublishing.com!