Continuity of Social Capital Across a Period of Incarceration

• In Event: Incarceration, Social Capital, and Community Re-Entry

Abstract

Researchers have started to examine the social ties of prisoners to identify sources of support or capital that can help them with their transition back to society upon release. Often these studies use visitation as a proxy for social support, but are unable to empirically test the link between visitors and the overall social capital of prisoners. This paper seeks to address that gap by directly linking pre-prison social network and capital measures to during prison visitation and back to post-release social support using a rich set of longitudinal administrative and self-report data from the Prison Project, a nation-wide longitudinal panel study of incarcerated males in The Netherlands. Specifically, this paper will link ties to parents, partners, children, other family members, and friends from prior to incarceration (self-reported at intake) to visits during incarceration and to ties to these parties at 6- and 24-months post-release. Indicators of instrumental support (e.g., depositing money in prisoner accounts, housing, jobs) and expressive support (e.g., discuss important matters) provided by the social network will also be explored. This paper will contribute to the literature by directly modeling the continuity of social capital from pre- to during- and post-incarceration.

Authors

• Audrey Hickert, University at Albany (SUNY)

• Hanneke Palmen, Leiden University

• Anja Dirkzwager, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement

• Paul Nieuwbeerta, Leiden University