3. Conducting In- Depth Interviews with Jailed Fathers and Their Family Members

Abstract

This chapter describes the Jail and Family Life Study, a longitudinal and qualitative investigation into the complex and potentially countervailing ways that paternal incarceration creates, maintains, and exacerbates inequalities among families and children. First, this chapter highlights that jails are an understudied yet critically essential aspect of the criminal justice system with important implications for family life. Second, it describes difficulties in navigating access to jailed fathers, an especially vulnerable population, and their family members. In doing so, this chapter also describes challenges associated with interviewing multiple members of the same family. Taken together, this data collection effort contributes to the growing literature on the collateral consequences of incarceration by examining how the cycle of jail incarceration and release affects fathers and their family members (including their children, their children’s mothers and caregivers, and their own mothers).