Prisoners and Their Wives: Marital and Domestic Effects of Telephone Contacts and Home Visits

• NCJ Number: 111877
• Journal: International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 32 Issue: 1 Dated: (April 1988) Pages: 55-66
• Author(s): L T Fishman
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A version of this article was presented at the 1986 meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Atlanta, Georgia.

Annotation

This article examines how wives' continuing relationships with their incarcerated husbands are shaped by prison policies concerning telephone calls and home furloughs.

Abstract

A combination of data sources were used to construct an enthnographic account of the experiences of 30 women married to men incarcerated in 2 prisons. Findings show that within the constraints of telephone calls and home furloughs, relationships can be strengthened or undermined as prisoners and their wives attempt to resume remnants of their preprison marital patterns. Analysis reveals that prison policies believed functional for the prison treatment programs can have dysfunctional consequences for prisoner-wife interaction. (Author abstract)