Welcome!

This foundation was created by a prison family, for prison families—so no one has to walk this road alone.

Our team

A group of people committed to keeping families connected and supported through incarceration.

Chloe Appleberry

Founder and CEO

Leading change, strengthening families, inspiring hope

Hiroe Shaffer

Program Coordinator

Keeping families connected with care and compassion

Shawn Bonney

Director of Family & Child Engagement and Support

Empowering children to grow, heal and thrive

Collin Shaffer

Multimedia & Program Coordinator

Creating stories that connect, uplift, and inspire.

A middle-aged woman with short gray hair, smiling while talking on a mobile phone inside a kitchen. The background shows a kitchen counter with various items including strawberries and a bowl of strawberries, a cutting board, and other kitchen utensils.

What we do

At the Appleberry Prison Foundation, we believe every phone call, letter, visit, and conversation can become a bridge instead of a wall.

    • Support for phone and video calls so families can maintain consistent meaningful contact and help navigating confusing policies that make connection harder

    • Supporting Extended Family Visits (EFVs) and in‑person family time through practical help like assistance with food and supplies, and short‑term pet‑sitting so caregivers can fully show up for visits.

    • Donations and advocacy for more comfortable, child-friendly visiting spaces

    • Tools to help caregivers talk honestly with children about incarceration

    • Resources to help kids process big feelings with honesty and hope

    • Access to counseling and coaching to help couples and families cope with the emotional strain of incarceration and to equip incarcerated parents with concrete ways to stay involved in their children’s lives from prison.

    • Children’s books like When Dad Calls Home

    • Family guides and practical tools

    • Podcasts and our “Free World” newsletter

    • We create programs and resources for children with incarcerated parents so they can process their experiences, maintain safe and healthy connections with their parents, and envision a future that is not defined by the criminal legal system.

What we believe

At the Appleberry Prison Foundation we believe in dignity, accountability, and second chances. We recognize that people in prison may have caused deep harm and will carry responsibility for their actions for the rest of their lives. We reject that their children, spouses, and families should be punished alongside them.

  • We believe that when families are stabilized and supported, communities become safer, recidivism can drop, and the generational cycle of incarceration can be disrupted.

  • Families deserve to stay connected—no matter the circumstances

  • Children should not carry the consequences of a parent’s incarceration

  • Caregivers need support, not judgment

  • Connection is not a privilege—it’s essential to healing

  • Breaking cycles starts with supporting the whole family

We work to ensure no family is left isolated, ashamed, or without support because someone they love is incarcerated.If you are a family walking this path, you are not alone here. If you are a community member or partner, we invite you to stand with these families—helping them heal, stay connected, and build stronger futures together.


A man and two young children are happily talking to someone on a tablet together in a colorful indoor amusement park or carnival setting.
Three women and a young huddle to facetime with someone on a cell phone indoors.

Who we are here for

At the Appleberry Prison Foundation we are here for:

  • The parent who is trying to explain incarceration to their child

  • The caregiver who is holding everything together at home

  • The child who is navigating confusion, grief, and love all at once

  • The partner doing life alone while staying connected from afar

  • The incarcerated parent who wants to remain present in their child’s life

  • The friend, teacher, or community member who wants to show up with understanding

  • The advocate working to break cycles and reduce stigma

  • The supporter who believes families deserve connection, dignity, and hope

If incarceration has touched your life—or if you care about the families it affects—you belong here.

Why we do it

“I started this foundation because I know what it feels like to love someone in prison and still have to keep life going on the outside. As teenagers in Seattle, my future husband, Tristan and I, met at Summit K–12 and quickly became known as high school sweethearts, building a deep friendship and partnership long before we could imagine the challenges ahead. At 19, one devastating day, one terrible decision led to Tristan unintentionally taking another person’s life. He was sentenced to 20 years in the Washington State prison system. Determined to remain a family, Tristan and I married in King County Jail, and have now been married for 16 years, walking through incarceration together.

Maintaining a marriage and family through incarceration has often been demeaning, confusing, and at times overwhelmingly hopeless. In 2019, when our daughter was born, she became a source of renewed purpose and hope, even as we navigated visits, phone calls, and the daily work of parenting from behind prison walls. Through that journey, we saw clearly how many financial, emotional, and logistical barriers families face just to stay connected—and how often those families are judged, dismissed, or forgotten instead of supported.


I never want a spouse, parent, or child to carry that weight alone or feel like the whole world is against them. At the Appleberry Prison Foundation, we believe having a loved one in prison should not erase your dignity, your story, or your future; we are here to break down stigma so families can be seen, supported, and given the space to heal, learn from their circumstances, and grow stronger together.”

— Chloe Appleberry, Founder

Chloe Appleberry and her family of three siton a wooden bench with Chloe on the left, her husband Tristan in the middle, and a their darling daughter with glasses sitting on his lap.