Alexandra Mosher

USA TODAY

“When you come home, Dad, I want… ” Maya, 9, stops and puts her face in her hands, unable to continue.

Maya, whose father is on a 25-year sentence in a California prison, was one of the many children who was able to send her incarcerated parent a video thanks to an effort led by Google called #LoveLetters.

Created with non-profit organizations Pops the Club and Place4Grace, the campaign helps children reach out to their fathers in prison as well as shine a light on the human toll of mass incarceration. Google partnered with criminal justice groups in a similar effort that helped children send video letters to their moms in prison for Mother's Day.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based owner of YouTube worked with the California Department of Corrections to share the videos with the fathers in prison in the state.

Mass incarceration is a problem in the United States, a country that represents 5% of the world’s population but holds 25% of the world’s prison population.

Policing the USA

Children with an incarcerated parent are more than three times more likely to have behavioral problems or depression, according to a study by University of California-Irvine associate professor of sociology, Kristin Turney. There are about 2.7 million American children with a parent in prison.

African American men are the most affected group, and African American children are 7.5 times more likely to have a parent behind bars than their white counterparts.

In February, Google's philanthropic arm made an announcement that it would be focusing on racial justice and would work with organizations fighting against mass incarceration. In the same month, Google also gave out $3 million in grants to organizations fighting for racial justice.

“We like disruption, and if there’s a system worth disrupting, it’s the criminal justice system,” said David Drummond, vice president of corporate development for Alphabet, parent of Google.

From 1980 to 2012, the number of children with a parent in jail or prison grew five times, according to estimates by sociologists Bryan Sykes and Becky Petit. And most of parents were in prison for non-violent offenses.

The experience is traumatizing for children and can have as much impact on their well-being as abuse or domestic violence according to a study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Maya finishes the video with a deep sigh and she lifts her head up to blow a kiss at the camera.