It’s visitation time at the Harris County jail and many of those visiting loved ones behind bars are children.

“I’m going to see my brother Victor,” said Tyra.

The 11-year-old says she visits her older brother as often as she can. He’s in jail for robbing a fast food store.

“Sometimes I feel happy that I can see him, but sometimes I feel sad, because I really want to see him like I’m looking at you right now, but I can’t,” she said.

It’s estimated that more than two million children in this country have a parent who’s been incarcerated.

London Hart is one of the numbers.

The 13-year-old hasn’t seen or spoken to her mother in more than a year.

AP photo

It's estimated that more than two million children in this country have a parent who's been incarcerated.

“I tried to talk to her, but, uh-uh,” she said.

London’s mother was locked up for petty theft.

She said that even before her mother went to prison, life was hard for her.

“I couldn’t stay in a stable place and that was the most difficult thing. I lived in cars and, ah, lived with people I didn’t know,” she said.

That was her life until her great aunt, Catherine Jeffries, took her in five years ago.

“When I first got London, London wasn’t able to read. She was in the third grade and she couldn’t read. People forget the children, the children are left behind,” said Jeffries.

Psychotherapist Janice Beal can’t forget. She says a growing number of her young clients have parents in prison.

That’s why she and a local judge joined forces and developed a coloring book about a young boy who acts up in school after his mother goes to prison for selling drugs.

“That’s the most important thing we tend to miss with children, getting out what the feelings are inside. A lot of times where does it come out, it comes out in school,” she said.

Beal suggests families use the coloring book as a tool to reconnect children with their parents and possibly prevent future problems.

“A lot of kids who are children of incarcerated parents, end up being incarcerated themselves,” said Beal.

Prison is not in London’s future, if her mentor, Bonita Jones has her way.

“She’s gonna stay in school,” she said.

Jones is a volunteer in Families Under Urban and Social Attack. It is one of very few mentor programs available to children whose parents have been locked up.

“What I want her to get out of it is to know that people love her,” said Jones.