The myriad of negative effects brought about by the incarceration of a family member have consistently been demonstrated in research. However, previous works have tended to focus on the perspectives of family members separately, rather than exploring the dynamic relationships within the family as an entire unit. Moreover, such research is still limited in the Chinese cultural context. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the applicability of the Family Process Theory on a small sample of Chinese fathers who were imprisoned and have returned to their communities, conceptualizing the challenges faced by their families under the theoretical elements of rules of transformation, rituals, ambiguous loss, and boundary ambiguity. A total of 17 participants were recruited through the assistance of service organizations, and data were collected via semi-structured interviews. As congruent with the theory, inmates' families were found to come across problems particularly in the transitioning phase and establishment of new rituals, while ambiguity surrounding the incarceration and the blurred role of the father led to problems with fatherhood identity both during and after the incarceration. Recommendations are made, in line with these findings and the suggestions of ex-prisoners, for services to have more of a focus on preserving the integrity of inmates' families. Given the right circumstances, families can even serve as a motivator for incarcerated fathers to improve themselves and mature, leveraging the important supportive role of the family and the fear of again being separated from one's family as effective deterrents to recidivism.

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In the Shadow of Prison: Families, Imprisonment and Criminal Justice by H. Codd and Doing Time Together: Love and Family in the Shadow of the Prison by M. Comfort

Incarceration and Family Stress as Understood through the Family Process Theory: Evidence from Hong Kong.

This article considers the way a group of mothers experienced the incarceration of their problematic drug using offspring. The offspring had been imprisoned for a range of offences including theft, burglary and drug dealing with the root cause of their incarceration being connected to their long-term problematic drug use. Much of the existing literature on imprisonment identifies the separation of offenders from their family as a source of strain both for the offender and the family, with separation being one of the pains of imprisonment described in the literature. However, in contrast to this, the evidence gathered during the research that this article is based upon, highlights how the mothers of problematic drug users sought to use the periods of time their offspring were in prison as respite from their difficult and time-consuming caring responsibilities. Furthermore, the time their offspring were incarcerated was used to repair fractured relationships.

Respite and repair: how mothers of incarcerated long-term problematic drug users make prison work for them

The aim of this paper is to present the results of the research on the way of understanding the meaning of parenthood/fatherhood from the perspective of prisoners. The research group has been formed with ten adult men who are under sentences in chosen penitentiary. The main goal of this research is to find the answer for the following questions: How do the prisoners identify the father’s role in their life? How do they understand their fatherhood? The decision to use an individual interview was influenced by the nature of the research and the small research sample. The attachment theory of John Bowlby (1969) and the concept of criminal thinking style by Glen David Walters (1990) – are the main theoretical assumptions of the presented article. The imprisoned men make not enough efforts to build the positive and effective relationship with their children and families. The findings also show that for the individuals included within this study imprisonment had both positive and negative effects on how they identified as parents and consequently on the relationships they were able to maintain with their children. Most of the respondents identify themselves as “good fathers”, they do not see any problems in their behavior and decisions which provide them committing different crimes. The respondents find the resources of their problems in the social environment. They completely are not able to recognise the sources of their problems in their personalities. The second theoretical issue mentioned in this paper is connected with the attachment theory. It explains how the parent–child relationship emerges and influences subsequent development. The attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have severe consequences. The respondents cannot build emotional relationships with their children because they experienced intense distress during their childhood.



In the Shadow of Prison: Families, Imprisonment and Criminal Justice by H. Codd and Doing Time Together: Love and Family in the Shadow of the Prison by M. Comfort

Citations

Incarceration and Family Stress as Understood through the Family Process Theory: Evidence from Hong Kong.

Respite and repair: how mothers of incarcerated long-term problematic drug users make prison work for them

Ojcostwo – w wypowiedziach dorosłych sprawców przestępstw, odbywających karę pozbawienia wolności

Parenthood and family in the opinions of adult offenders: qualitative study

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