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The costs of incarceration for families of prisoners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2017

Megan Comfort ,
Tasseli McKay ,
Justin Landwehr ,
Erin Kennedy ,
Christine Lindquist  and
Anupa Bir
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Abstract

Family members of incarcerated people are often faced with financial, social and emotional costs related to the imprisonment of their loved ones. These costs can be conceptualized as investments both in the sustenance of personal relationships and in a greater social good in the form of assisting with the reintegration of former prisoners. In this article, we draw upon data from a mixed-methods study to elucidate the costs of detention on families of prisoners. We demonstrate that financial, social and emotional costs associated with imprisonment of a family member are interrelated and often compound each other, indicating the importance of addressing them in a holistic framework.

Keywords

familiesprisonersincarcerationrelationshipscosts
Type
Overview of the humanitarian challenge
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 98 , Issue 903: Detention: Addressing the human cost , December 2016 , pp. 783 - 798
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2017 

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References

1 See the Institute for Criminal Policy Research's World Prison Brief website, available at: www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/ (all internet references were accessed in June 2017).

2 Forman, James Jr, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2017 Google Scholar; Tonry, Michael, Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995 Google Scholar; Wacquant, Loïc, “Suitable Enemies: Foreigners and Immigrants in the Prisons of Europe”, Punishment & Society, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1999 Google Scholar; Zimring, Franklin E. and Hawkins, Gordon J., The Scale of Imprisonment, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1991 Google Scholar.

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4 Hairston, Creasie Finney, “Family Ties during Imprisonment: Important to Whom and for What?”, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1991 Google Scholar; Pattillo, Mary, Weiman, David and Western, Bruce (eds), Imprisoning America: The Social Effects of Mass Incarceration, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 2004 Google Scholar.

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6 D. Braman, above note 3; M. Comfort, above note 3; Lindquist, Christine et al. , The Experiences of Families during a Father's Incarceration: Descriptive Findings from Baseline Data Collection for the Evaluation of Marriage and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Reentering Fathers and Their Partners, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC, 2015 Google Scholar.

7 Western, Bruce et al. , “Stress and Hardship after Prison”, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 120, No. 5, 2015 Google Scholar; Visher, Christy A. et al. , Baltimore Prisoners’ Experiences Returning Home, Urban Institute, Washington, DC, 2004 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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9 Lars Anderson, “Duration and Frequency of Paternal Incarceration and Youth Outcomes”, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2016; Condry, Rachel, Families Shamed: The Consequences of Crime for Relatives of Serious Offenders, Willan, Cullompton, 2007 Google Scholar; Granja, Rafaela, “Beyond Prison Walls: The Experiences of Prisoners’ Relatives and Meanings Associated with Imprisonment”, Probation Journal, Vol. 63, No. 3, 2016 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Halsey, Mark and Deegan, Simone, “Father and Son: Two Generations through Prison”, Punishment & Society, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2012 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hutton, Marie, “Visiting Time: A Tale of Two Prisons”, Probation Journal, Vol. 63, No. 3, 2016 Google Scholar; Moran, Dominique, “Between Outside and Inside? Prison Visiting Rooms as Liminal Carceral Spaces”, GeoJournal, Vol. 78, No. 2, 2013 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; R. Gwénola, above note 3; Touraut, Caroline, La famille à l’épreuve de la prison, PUF, Paris, 2012 Google Scholar.

10 See: https://aspe.hhs.gov/evaluation-marriage-and-family-strengthening-grants-incarcerated-and-reentering-fathers-and-their-partners; see also the forthcoming special issue of the Journal of Offender Rehabilitation dedicated to articles describing the study and its findings.

11 Relationship strengthening programming provided through this initiative is described in detail in “The Implementation of Family Strengthening Programs for Families Affected by Incarceration”, available at: https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/implementation-family-strengthening-programs-families-affected-incarceration.

12 For more details on the MFS-IP study design and sample, see Christine Lindquist, Danielle Steffey, Tasseli McKay, Megan Comfort and Anupa Bir, “The Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Partnering and Parenting: Design and Sample”, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, forthcoming.

13 See: https://aspe.hhs.gov/evaluation-marriage-and-family-strengthening-grants-incarcerated-and-reentering-fathers-and-their-partners.

14 C. Lindquist et al., above note 6.

15 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

16 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

17 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

18 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

19 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

20 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

21 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

22 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

23 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

24 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

25 Lindquist, Christine, Comfort, Megan, Landwehr, Justin, Feinberg, Rose, Cohen, Julia, McKay, Tasseli and Bir, Anupa, Change in Father-Child Relationships Before, During, and After Incarceration, Research Brief prepared for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, March 2016 Google Scholar.

26 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

27 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

28 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

29 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

30 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

31 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

32 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.

33 Interview with study participant, on file with authors.