The recent Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) provides insights into the skill levels of incarcerated adults ages 18-74 for the first time in more than a decade. Initial analyses of PIAAC data indicated that 31 percent of incarcerated adults with dependent children under 18 have low literacy skill levels compared with 20 percent of the total U.S. population. The purpose of this paper is to construct a profile of incarcerated parents of dependent children, as dependent children may be likelier than grown children to experience positive spillover effects from parental education. Improving the skills of parents with dependent children may therefore have intergenerational effects in addition to any first-order effects, and may therefore be of particular interest to policymakers. It provides an overview of the skills of incarcerated parents and the correctional educational programs in which they participate and serves as a foundation for further research. The detailed background questionnaire included in the PIAAC study provides researchers with the opportunity to learn more about incarcerated parents' (1) pre-incarceration education levels and employment, (2) current skill levels and, in light of dwindling state-level capacity to support correctional education, (3) the factors that influence enrollment in and access to educational programming in prison. The intent of this research is to strengthen educators' and policymakers' understanding of the education, literacy and numeracy skills, and job readiness of incarcerated parents who are highly likely to return to their communities.