“A Twenty-Hour-a-Day Job”

Abstract

In the growing field of research on the consequences of criminal justice contact for family life, a heavy emphasis has been placed on how imprisonment influences the emotional, physical, and socioeconomic wellbeing of prisoners’ loved ones. In this article, I elaborate on and analyze the experiences of family members of people with frequent, low-level criminal justice involvement. I draw on ethnographic data collected in partnership with a clinical social worker over the course of a three-year study of an intensive case management intervention for HIV-positive individuals. Findings indicate that loved ones’ brief jail stays and community supervision through probation and parole pose hardships for family members that are distinct from those hardships that arise during imprisonment. These experiences are uniquely destabilizing, may confer specific risks to family members’ wellbeing, and merit further study to inform programs, social services, and public policy.

Maternal Mediation in the Context of Fathers' Incarceration and Reentry

“…Men's repeated cycles of incarceration and reentry may contribute to mothers' efforts to protect children from disappointment, hold fathers at a distance, and lessen or halt women's prison work. Frequent cycles of incarceration and reentry can be uniquely destabilizing for families, deplete emotional and financial resources for caregivers, and stress children (Comfort, 2016).…”

Risk Marker or Risk Mechanism? The Effect of Family, Household, and Parental Imprisonment on Children and Adults’ Social Support and Mental Health

“…Although there was no average direct effect of CFI, HI, or PI on social support, such average effects may obscure positive or negative effects on certain subgroups within this population. The strong emotional responses to family imprisonment observed in qualitative research with prisoners' relatives in Australia as well as other countries (e.g., Braman, 2004;Comfort, 2008Comfort, , 2016Condry, 2013;Dennison & Besemer, in press;Meek, 2008) may be indicative of such subgroup effects. It is possible that such studies capture families affected by longer and more serious prison sentences, and therefore, finds much greater negative psychological consequences in family members affected.…”

“…Although many qualitative studies suggest that imprisonment diminishes the psychological well-being of prisoners' family members and spouses (e.g., Braman, 2004;Comfort, 2008Comfort, , 2016Condry, 2013;Dennison & Besemer, in press;Meek, 2008), few studies have tested this effect empirically. A number of cross-sectional studies have shown that family imprisonment is associated with substantially worse physical and mental health (K. L. Besemer & Dennison, in press;Gaston, 2016;Wildeman, Lee, & Comfort, 2013).…”

“…In addition, qualitative research observed adverse psychological consequences of sibling imprisonment for other children in the home (Meek, 2008; Meek et al, 2010). Qualitative work by Comfort (2016) has described repeated short prison sentences among close family members as a severe, on-going strain, particularly for people who have to cope with the imprisonments of multiple different relatives. The imprisonment of close family members has also been shown to result in risks to adult cardiovascular health (H.…”

Systematic Case Review Strategies: An Application for Jail Population Reduction

“…Jail stays also interrupt employment which can negatively earnings (Harding, Siegel, & Morenoff, 2017). The strain of jail can make it difficult to maintain relationships that are essential to successful reintegration back into society (Apel, 2016;Comfort, 2016). The churn of multiple jail stays, even if short in length, also causes strain and instability among family groups, leaving families feeling hopeless under the constant eye of supervision (Comfort, 2016).…”