Grief Interrupted: The Experience of Loss Among Incarcerated Women

Abstract

Incarcerated women face a number of stressors apart from the actual incarceration. Nearly half of all women in prison experience the death of a loved one during their incarceration. Our purpose for this study was to explore the experience of grief and loss among incarcerated women using a phenomenological method. Our study approach followed van Manen's method of phenomenology and Munhall's description of existential lifeworlds. Our analysis revealed four existential lifeworlds: temporality: frozen in time; spatiality: no place, no space to grieve; corporeality: buried emotions; and relationality: never alone, yet feeling so lonely. The findings generated from this study can help mental health providers as well as correctional professionals develop policies and programs that facilitate the grief process of incarcerated women within the confines of imprisonment.

Stress Management Techniques in the Prison Setting

“…The latest data from the Bureau of Justice, indicates that 1,937,500 adults were incarcerated in the U.S. in 2010 representing a slight decrease from the previous year. There is much evidence, mainly quantitative in nature, regarding the extreme stress to which inmates are often exposed, although some qualitative studies have also been completed on the stress-related experiences of prisoners in different contexts (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1995;Harner, Hentz, & Evangelista, 2011;Lutz, 1990). This is dramatically higher than any country in the world with the countries in the distant second and third place being Rwuanda and Georgia (formerly of the USSR), respectively (International Center for Prison Studies, 2011).…”

Furtos de Bagatelas e Sofrimento Social: uma Interlocução com o pensamento winnicottiano

“…Fixamos, como faixa temporal de pesquisa, um intervalo de sete anos. Deparamo-nos com um total de onze trabalhos: Darnall e Sazie A leitura dos onze artigos selecionados, que aborda a condição emocional das presidiárias, revela tanto preocupações com a reinserção social, como com as consequências do encarceramento em si, na medida em que o próprio confinamento é reconhecido como fonte de sofrimento emocional passível de ser diagnosticado como estresse, ansiedade ou depressão (Harner, Hentz, & Evangelista, 2011;Johnson et al, 2013;Mejía, Zea, Romero, & Saldívar , 2015;Raeisei, Sarani, Arbabisarjou, & Mojahed, 2015). Assim, compreendemos que esta constatação se traduza sob a forma de proposições de tratamento de sintomas e de modificação de comportamentos ligados a problemas com sexualidade ou com consumo abusivo de drogas (Ferszt, Miller, Hickey, Maull, & Crisp, 2015;Johnson et al, 2013;Lima, Pereira, Amarante, Dias, & Ferreira Filha, 2013, Mejía et al, 2015.…”

Older Prisoners’ Experiences of Death, Dying and Grief Behind Bars

“…In other words, grieving is a process each prisoner must endure alone and the timeline for grieving is suspended while incarcerated. One older woman in Harner, Hertz and Evangelista's () qualitative study responded to her loss in prison:

I could not grieve for them the way you'd normally do if you were on the outside. So I think I was still in shock.

…”

“…I remembered having a gulp of water stuck in my throat, as if I was ready to cry, but tears never came. (Williams 1989, p.75) Research speaks about the grieving process and how frequently it is frozen in time (Harner, Hentz and Evangelista 2011). Not having the opportunity to grieve with other family members or to attend their loved one's viewing can lead to an element of disbelief, because individuals could not actively experience the loss for themselves (Aday 2003;Aday and Krabill 2011).…”

“…The Howard Journal Vol 55 No 3. September 2016ISSN 2059-1098 Obstacles to grieving behind bars include policies restricting prisoner access to rituals (that is, funerals, memorial services, cemetery visits), memorabilia from the deceased, space and privacy to grieve, self-disclosure, and social support (Ferszt 2002;Harner, Hentz and Evangelista;Junior 2003). Schetky (1998, p.384) asserts that the unwritten code of behaviour in prison excludes the rituals associated with mourning.…”