Inmate Transfers and Research on Inmate Social Networks

• In Event: Emergent Research on Inmate Social Networks

Abstract

Research on prisons and imprisonment suggests that individuals’ experiences in prison are diverse and have important implications for understanding the impacts of incarceration. There is still much work to be done, however, identifying which prison experiences are most salient and, in particular, experiences that may impact individuals’ social ties and access to them, which may be critical for navigating life during incarceration and afterwards. This paper seeks to shed light on one common prison experience—facility transfers—that has been largely ignored in prison scholarship and that theoretically may have wide-ranging effects, including effects on inmate social networks. Transfers are examined theoretically and empirically and implications for theory, research, and policy are discussed.

Author

• Joshua Cochran, University of Cincinnati