The impact of crime, incarceration, and reentry on relationships

• In Event: Navigating Stigma and Barriers: The Impact of Criminal Records on Education, Employment, and Relationships

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the multifaceted impact of crime, incarceration, and reentry on interpersonal relationships. Because relationships are essential to reintegration and desistance, exploring the perceived importance of relationships in the lives of formerly incarcerated people sheds light on their maintenance of relationships with people on the outside, the value of in-person visitation during incarceration, and the consequences of fractured and/or maintained relationships through or due at least in part to crime, incarceration, and reentry. In-depth interviews were conducted with more than 70 individuals who identified as formerly incarcerated to explore issues surrounding their personal relationships, including the effect of their offense, conviction, and/or incarceration on their existing relationships, the amount and type of contact between people when they were incarcerated with their families and loved ones outside, and the damage to, formation, and/or repair of social, familial, romantic, and professional relationships during and after release from incarceration. Preliminary findings indicate that incarceration strained or eliminated familial and romantic bonds in many cases, but in others, the distance ameliorated familial ties. Several respondents realized during the solitude of confinement that some of their relationships were detrimental and took steps to end them. Some expressed forming new and meaningful relationships with others incarcerated during their confinement. Relationships with correctional officers elicited mostly aggravated but some warm reactions. A few respondents described how their mental health, children on the outside, and deaths of loved ones affected their experience of incarceration. This research has crucial implications for social support systems of currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, which could improve reentry outcomes.

Author

• Douglas Evans, Fairleigh Dickinson University