abstract: The purpose of this project is to better understand the factors associated with, and effects of, prison visitation for children during maternal and paternal incarceration. As gatekeepers, caregivers play a pivotal role in the facilitation of parent-child prison visitation. Yet, some caregivers may be more likely to take children to visit than others. Additionally, among those children who do visit, visitation may be positive in some ways and negative in others. To advance prior work, this study (1) assesses the relationship between caregiver type and parent-child prison visitation and (2) investigates the emotional and behavioral responses of children who visit. The current research uses mixed-methods and is carried out in two phases. For Phase 1, quantitative data on 984 children collected from structured interviews with incarcerated parents (N=279 mothers; N=143 fathers) in the Arizona Department of Corrections are used to examine the relationship between caregiver type and the likelihood of parent-child prison visitation. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses are conducted separately for maternal and paternal incarceration. Phase 2 draws on caregivers' accounts of 40 children who visit their parent in prison to assess children's emotional and behavioral reactions to visitation. Data are coded to identify positive and negative responses, "visitation paradox" indicators, prior life circumstances and child age. Thematic content analyses are conducted to capture major themes. Analyses from Phase 1 confirm a significant relationship between caregiver type and mother-child and father-child visitation. Other factors that affected the likelihood of parental visitation included child situational factors, parent stressors, institutional barriers and child demographics, although these effects differed depending upon which parent was in prison. Results from Phase 2 revealed overwhelmingly negative responses among children to parental prison visitation. Key themes that accounted for child reactions included institutional context and parental attachment. This research adds to the collateral consequences of incarceration literature by providing greater insight into the imprisonment experience for vulnerable families. Further, these results have direct implications for correctional policy and practice pertaining to the manner and regulation of prison visits and also inform reentry efforts through a family-centric approach. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2014

Background: Analyses of the individual-, social- and structural-level factors promoting the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne pathogens have consistently identified exposure to correctional environments, especially for individuals who use injection drugs (IDU), as a risk factor for infection. The objectives of this project were: to review the epidemiologic literature on incarceration and HIV infection among IDU, critically examining evidence presented supporting a causal linkage between imprisonment and infection; to investigate incarceration experiences in a cohort of active IDU; and to assess the possible effects of incarceration on the post-release risk environment of active IDU. Methods: Longitudinal datasets for quantitative analyses were derived from the Vancouver Injection Drug User Study (VIDUS) and the Scientific Evaluation of Supervised Injection (SEOSI), both prospective cohorts of IDU in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. In the first analysis, the prevalence and correlates of reporting incarceration in the the previous six months were identified in SEOSI using generalized estimating equations (GEE). In the second analysis, the possible effect of imprisonment on the prevalence of risk factors for HIV infection was estimated in VIDUS using linear growth curve analysis. Results: In the first analysis, 902 individuals interviewed at least once between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2006 were included. Overall, 423 (46.9%) reported an incarceration event at some point during the study period. In a multivariate GEE model, recent incarceration was independently associated with a number of high-risk factors, including syringe sharing. In the second analysis, 1603 individuals were interviewed at least once between 1 May 1996 and 31 December 2005 and in cluded. Of these, 147 (9.2%) matched the study criteria and were included as cases; 742 (46.3%) were included as matched controls. In linear growth curve analyses adjusted for age, gender and ethnicity, syringe sharing was significantly more common in the incarcerated group (p = 0.03) after incarceration than in the control group. Conclusions: Our findings support the existence of a role for incarceration in continued viral transmission. In response, appropriate harm reduction measures should be expanded within correctional environments and social, political and legal reforms enacted to reduce the incidence of imprisonment for individuals who use illicit drugs. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / Fatherhood is a role that is understood and exercised differently, but to most it infers a responsibility to provide and protect. Fatherhood is associated with manhood, in the sense that a man is expected to take on the role of fatherhood. The relationship between manhood and fatherhood is: the physical act of begetting a child (manhood) and the processes of accepting, as well as, performing, the role of a father (fatherhood). A paternal identity, or a man’s identity as a father, comprises of all the internalized expectations of behaviour that he has associated with being a father (e.g. being a breadwinner, being a caregiver). In the Western world, it is widely accepted that a man becomes a father when he impregnates a woman; however, masculinity is neither biologically determined nor automatic. There are many different, culturally sanctioned ways, of being a man; not only one universal masculinity. It can therefore be presumed that masculinity/fatherhood/manhood is acted or performed. This study focuses on biological fathers, instead of the broader concept of father figures. Any male can fulfil the role of a father figure to a child and take responsibility for rearing a child, but biological fathers indicate a blood relationship and a biological connection. A paternal father also retains his status as a biological parent of a child, regardless of the level of subsequent contact or involvement in the child’s life. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of the partners and adolescent children, when biological fathers are incarcerated. In order to do this, an assessment of the biological father’s experiences, in prison, is first implemented. Paternal incarceration places a strain on families, especially children, who experience parent-child separation. The unexpected separation of a child from the parent can be linked to various emotional consequences. Incarceration limits fathers ‘familial involvement and parenting capacity’, thereby compromising family relationships. Incarcerated fathers are separated from their partners and children, which limits family contact in many ways, weakening familial bonds, not only while time is being served, but also after release. The incarcerated man also experiences a sense of insignificance, being devalued as a person and powerless.A qualitative research approach was used to explore the objectives of the study. Purposive sampling was used to select twenty incarcerated participants for this research. Due to the strict selection criteria, only fourteen (14) were eventually chosen to participate in the study. Their fourteen (14) spouses/partners and biological adolescents were also expected to participate, however, only four (4) partners, one (1) significant carer and 5 adolescents formed part of the sample for this study, due to some partners not wanting to expose their adolescents, nor their personal details, to scrutiny and others simply not being interested to participate. Data was collected by using semi-structured interviews with face-to-face interaction, open-ended questions (with fathers) and focus discussion groups (with the partners, significant carer and adolescents). Although the theoretical framework focuses on Attachment Theory, the study also considers other principles of criminological theories, regarding the identified increase in child disruptive and criminal behaviour, caused by parental incarceration. A thematic data analysis approach was used to extract themes. The main findings of this study show that the fathers experienced difficulties with maintaining their role as a father prior to, and after, incarceration. They were concerned about the financial adversity their families had to endure when they were imprisoned and the mothers/partners being forced into single parenthood. They also felt excluded from all decision-making processes and isolated from the development of their children. The partners experienced financial difficulties, loneliness and humiliation, as a result of the biological father’s incarceration. The significant carer, who was involved as a result of the biological mother not being able to fulfill the caring role, identified the problems experienced as financial difficulties, lack of child-care support and, in some cases, the substance abuse of the biological mother. The separation affected the adolescent children psychologically, when they were exposed to the stigma attached to having a father, who was incarcerated. They also identified feelings of abandonment because of the lack of a father-child relationship and being deprived of opportunities to share important events and personal achievements with their biological father.

Death row is a space across the United States that continues to expand, not only in numbers, but in the length of time inmates spend confined there. Fewer and fewer inmates are executed and death row is now increasingly the only punishment of capital convicts. This thesis examines the retributive and punitive treatment of death-sentenced offenders within that space and, by viewing that form of imprisonment as part of a communication process, it assesses the contribution it makes to the death penalty more generally in the USA to argue that death row imprisonment is crucial in sustaining the distinction of capital offenders, and the death penalty itself.Just as death row receives images from wider culture, it simultaneously generates images that complement and validate those it receives, of death sentenced offenders as dangerous monsters. These images, of offenders who require punitive detention, align with the dominant supportive rationale of capital punishment, retribution, and provide a basis for continued death penalty support in an era of declining executions.In the “hidden world” of death row, prisoners are left to be abused, mistreated, and denied privileges and opportunities available to other prisoners. The capital offender is presented by his death row incarceration as different from all other offenders serving other sentences, even life without parole. Death row incarceration communicates the worth and status of the condemned, presenting him as a dangerous, and dehumanised other, who needs to be securely detained, and restricted. Thus death row validates and justifies the cultural needs of capital punishment. Just as wider culture, including, specifically, the legal community, dictates a requirement for punitive detention, death row corroborates that image with its own in a self-affirming loop. Death row is therefore functional beyond the mere holding of offenders, it affirms cultural descriptions of the condemned and thus justifies, and provides support for, the very continuation of capital punishment itself.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Administration)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to assess the poverty and crime levels among the offenders’ families and to compare the perceptions of the offenders and correctional officials regarding incarceration and rehabilitation in the correctional centres with the view of developing an adjusted framework for the Department of Justice and Correctional Services. The study utilised a mixed method approach and was descriptive. The study used survey method to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data were collected using self-administered structured questionnaires and qualitative data used self-administered semi-structured questionnaires and open-ended questions. Three groups of respondents participated in this study. The population for the quantitative design were offenders (n=59) and correctional officials (n=17), respectively from Polokwane Medium B Prison. Participants for the qualitative design were the same correctional officials (n=17) and offenders’ families (n=10). Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 22 package while qualitative data was coded and analysed manually. The majority of offenders (66%) indicated that their families were struggling while they were incarcerated and corroborated by 59% of the correctional officials, whereas 80% of the offenders’ families were evidenced during the interview that they were struggling. The findings revealed that incarceration and rehabilitation lead to recidivism and the ensnarement of offenders’ families to poverty and crime. The study revealed that overcrowding, limited staff and lack of staff with expertise were the contributing factors to the ineffectiveness of rehabilitation programmes in the correctional centre. The study recommends the coordinated efforts of the stakeholders (government departments and NGOs) for improving the implementation of the remunerated work for the offenders. The researcher is optimistic that if the proposed adjusted incarceration and rehabilitation framework is implemented, the poverty among the offenders’ families might be alleviated. KEY CONCEPTS: incarceration; rehabilitation; recidivism; offenders’ families; prisoners; correctional officials; mixed research methodology.

No description available.

The incarceration of mentally ill youth is a serious problem not receiving the same attention as in adults. In this study, we examine the prevalence of psychopathology and level of behavioral symptomatology in incarcerated youth versus youth receiving community mental health services or hospitalization. We randomly recruited youth from middle South Carolina served by a local CMHC (n = 60), youth served by the state adolescent inpatient program (n = 50), and youth in the S.C. Dept. of Juvenile Justice facilities from the same region (n = 75). We used the DISC-PC 2.3 to evaluate DSM-III-R diagnoses and the CBCL and YSR to evaluate behavioral symptomatology. On the DISC, incarcerated youth had significantly higher mean number of diagnoses and symptoms than CMHC youth, but lower numbers than hospitalized youth. Level of "caseness" (at least one diagnosis) was 86% in hospital youth, 72% in incarcerated youth, and 60% in CMHC youth. The groups differed in CBCL mean total T, internalizing T, and externalizing T scores as well as mean YSR internalizing T scores. Our results indicate the comparability in level of psychopathology in incarcerated and community-treated populations of youth, and the need to develop diversionary programs to prevent the entry of such youth into the juvenile justice system.

A considerable amount of research focuses on the detrimental influence that relationships pose for women offenders while relatively little attention has been given to the potential positive impact of relationships in their lives. This study investigates how women offenders' positive relationships work as 'buffers' against their criminal involvement, as well as why some positive influences do not elicit long-term change in women. We examine various forms of relationships (both romantic and non-romantic) that female offenders develop and explore the mechanisms by which these relationships might influence their behavior. Life history interviews conducted with 60 incarcerated women revealed that women's family members, friends, significant others, and children provided support, social capital, motivation, and opportunities which can buffer women from criminal behavior, but that women's drug use, disadvantage, interest in, pride or shame, and desire to make positive changes limited the effectiveness of these relationships.

A considerable amount of research focuses on the detrimental influence that relationships pose for women offenders while relatively little attention has been given to the potential positive impact of relationships in their lives. This study investigates how women offenders' positive relationships work as 'buffers' against their criminal involvement, as well as why some positive influences do not elicit long-term change in women. We examine various forms of relationships (both romantic and non-romantic) that female offenders develop and explore the mechanisms by which these relationships might influence their behavior. Life history interviews conducted with 60 incarcerated women revealed that women's family members, friends, significant others, and children provided support, social capital, motivation, and opportunities which can buffer women from criminal behavior, but that women's drug use, disadvantage, interest in, pride or shame, and desire to make positive changes limited the effectiveness of these relationships.

The introduction of comments regarding the care of persons with gender identity disorder (GID) residing in prison settings began in 1998 with Version 5 of the Standards of Care (SOC), the first major revision of the SOC since 1985. Minor revisions to this brief section were made for Version 6 in 2001. Since 2001, there have been many legal and regulatory actions in countries where the SOC are widely used as the minimum standards to evaluate and treat persons with GID that have referenced this section in the SOC. The original paragraph addressing care for incarcerated persons has proven to be helpful by its existence, but limiting in its brevity and lack of scope. Version 7, likely to be a significant revision compared with the minor changes in Version 6, can be informed by the information that has come to light in the last 6 years, most notably through court actions that have used, or misused, the SOC. This invited article reviews the background of this section, rationale for revisions, suggested conceptual changes, and specific content for consideration for inclusion in Version 7 of the SOC.