Coping With Incarceration: How Women Adjust to Being Separated From Their Children

Abstract

The current study considers how women experience the pain of loss of liberty and separation from their children and families during the initial phases of incarceration and identifies factors that help them adapt and move beyond any early difficulties. It uses data from semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of incarcerated mothers to qualitatively explore their experiences, including any misconduct or troubles, and their views on what helped them during this first phase of their imprisonment. Most mothers reported more than one type of experience: mentally struggled, anger and conflict, pregnancy and loss, focused on doing my time, and kept busy. In line with relational-cultural theory (RCT), mothers noted that relational support from other women and staff in the facility, participation in groups and programming, and support from family members outside the prison helped them cope in more successful ways. Implications and policies associated with their care and management are discussed.