A Sisterhood: The Collective Resilience Born in the Periphery of Prison

Abstract

The collateral consequences of incarceration and prison visitation, transcend the boundaries of prison and transform women's lives. Through an intersectional approach, this research uncovers in what capacity degradation and secondary prisonization shape women's lives, and what coping mechanisms women form in response to the difficulties of visitation. Existing research has yet to identify visitors' relationships to one another and how these relationships aid in fostering coping strategies and resilience within the carceral realm. To fill the gaps, I employed qualitative research to explore the process of visitation, processing procedures, challenges of visitation, staff relations, and women's support systems. Findings indicated visitors are subject to an environment of gendered, racist, and classist oppression that varies in degree depending on social heirarchy and status. However, as a manifestation of resilience, women construct coping mechanisms in the form of information and support networks that aid in the dismantling the prevailing culture of scarcity of information and the degradation of free women by prison staff. These marginalized women habitually resist carceral domination through informal interpersonal support systems.