Family in the Narratives of Good Life: Performing Masculinities in the Lithuanian Correctional Facilities

Abstract

Most recent works on incarcerated men have focused on prisoners’ relationship to their children and family, incarcerated fatherhood and the influence of visitation to inmates’ behaviour. The negative impact of imprisonment on family relations has also been extensively studied. Yet the intersections between imprisoned men’s attitudes towards masculinity and family remain underresearched. Drawing on 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with imprisoned men and their criminal records in Alytus correctional facility, the article contributes to the study of “doing” gender in prisons with regard to socially excluded men’s perceptions of family. We argue that family with its different gender role allocations not only serves as one of the most important objects of good life but also engenders criminal activities. The analysis of data demonstrate that according to their perceptions of family, the incarcerated men fall into two categories of hypermasculinity and “distant” complicit masculinity. The latter dominant category of men espouses egalitarian familial roles and emphasizes parental caregiving responsibilities, emotional support and financial assistance as the most significant in current situation. Although the first group of men advocating hypermasculine behaviour are attached to the traditional family with strictly defined gender roles, they lack the desire and motivation to fulfil their expected familial obligations. For them, family is less an object of good life and intimate security than a source of frustration and disappointment. The study also shows that, as an important predictor of their masculinity and masculine behaviour, the incarcerated men’s attitudes toward family requires a more comprehensive and multifaceted investigation.