NCJ Number
190454
Journal
Women & Criminal Justice Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: 2001 Pages: 21-49
Date Published
2001
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This study explored the effects of incarceration on female drug offenders and their children as viewed by the inmates.
Abstract
A survey was administered to 144 incarcerated drug offenders in 1997, asking them about their childhoods, their drug-use histories, their lives immediately prior to incarceration, and their perceptions of the effects of their incarceration on their children. Most of the analyses focused on the 96 women who reported having children with them immediately prior to incarceration. The study sample was drawn from two State correctional facilities in Oklahoma. According to the women in the sample, incarceration had a negative impact on the family structure and on the children. This was consistent with other studies. Further, the study found that incarceration contributed to increases in family instability. Women cited tenuous marital relationships; less than one-fourth of the women were legally married; however, over half of the married women reported that divorce proceedings had been initiated since incarceration. Frequently, siblings were separated from one another as well as from the parent. The women viewed parent-child relationships as diminishing in quality or terminating. According to the mothers, their children experienced difficulties at school and had problems with alcohol, drugs, and depression. Several of the women reported having been abused by a parent with whom the child was living (grandparent) while the mother was incarcerated. It was possible that the women placed their children with their own past abusers because they feared they would not regain custody of their children after release if their children became wards of the State. Suggestions were offered for future research. 6 tables and 63 references