Is a parenting plan still in effect while dad is in prison?

My ex and I divorced 10 years ago and since then he has had regular visitation with our son who is now 13.
He became a felon during our marriage, one of the many disputes that led to our divorce. And he was not allowed to posses or handle firearms. So now his biggest and most recent blunder is he was drunk last weekend and caught drunk in public with a loaded 22 rifle. It took 7 cop cars to arrest him and he ended up spending the weekend in jail. Was booked for felony in possesion of a firearm which faces a maximum sentence of 27 months in PRISON! (and who knows what else he may have been booked on.)
So he wants me to help him continue seeing his son while he is in prison and I am not very hung ho on the idea. I only do what I am court ordered to do, but does a parenting plan hold up when the other parent is in prison? Can the court finally agree that the child's best interest is not with a crazy lunatic dad or has he not proven himself unfit yet?
Additional Details
Many thanks for the great advice! It helps give me a perspective on how I should handle things if he does get the prison sentence. I do know that he loves his son but he is not a very good example for him and does a lot of age innapropriate things around him. But maybe God is looking out after us cause even if he does visit his dad there is a limited amount of infulence he can give him. It will be like "supervised visitation" once again.

Artemis Gwen

You should file for a modification of the parenting plan based on his most recent arrest. The alcohol and the felon in possession of a firearm charges will not cause the court to look very kindly on him.

I would file a public records request and get a copy of the police reports associated with his arrest. Attach them as an exhibit to your petition for modification.

You can specifically request that he be ordered to take an alcohol assessment; and you can ask that personal visitation be suspended if he is sentenced to prison. I would also ask that you not be responsible for accepting collect calls.

The court will try to do what is in the best interests of the child. It is generally the best interest of a child to have regular contact with both parents. You could potentially be required to facilitate visits between your son and your ex while he is incarcerated. Has your son ever gotten arrested? Or in any other trouble? If not, the argument I would make would be that it is in your son's best interest to be protected from having to endure the process involved with visiting an inmate. (If your son has been arrested, this will make your argument a bit less persuasive.)

If your current parenting plan does not specifically require you to transport your child to his father for visitation, then you would not be required to do so. If the parenting plan requires you to share the transportation costs, then you would probably be required to drive him to and from the prison every other time your son is scheduled to visit with him. BUT, if your ex is incarcerated he won't really be in the position to enforce the parenting plan. If you don't want to try to modify the parenting plan, why don't you just string him along over his requests to be visited when he's in prison and then do whatever you want when he's locked up. There's no need to fight and argue about it now.

Truthseeker

Court may side with you, but if he has been good to the baby, the court will consider, how no contact will impact the baby, not seeing him at all and than having to deal with a stranger when he gets out. You should just ask for a modification of once a month visit.

wiredlife

I'm sure that there were conditions that both parties had to meet on the parenting contract. It's kind of hard to meet obligation when you're in prison. He can't fulfill his obligation now, obviously.
I don't believe you need to take the child to see him.
He is the one who has screwed up and if he wants to continue with child visitation he will probably need to petition the court and ask for modification of the parenting plan. If he does, the judge will look at his behavior(violence), how far the prison is, what it costs to take the child to see him, and other factors.
If he has a relative that you trust to take him to see him in prison, the judge may ok occasional visitations. The main factor is how does your child feel about visiting him? Seeing him in a prison setting at least once may be good for the child, help him understand what his dad is really like. But if your child seems to need that father/son relationship, you may want to take him once in awhile and encourage him to write letters. Your child is also old enough to attend court when his dad is being sentenced, which will keep his dad from lying or minimizing what he had done. Or blaming you for it.
I think if you put your child's interest first you will know what is right to do for him, like you knew when you left his dad it was best for your son. But if you don't want to take him, wait and see if the court contacts you, it's your ex's responsibility now to make the changes.

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