Inmates and Their Wives: Incarceration and Family Life

(Hardback)

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Description

A study of how inmates and their wives cope with incarceration and how a conjugal visit programme helps their marriages. The findings of a family support programme in upper New York State compares different groups and has implications for social welfare and corrections professionals. The authors review the historical background of family support programmes for prison inmates, review the literature, and raise questions about the kinds of policies, programmes, and services that affect inmates and their families. They point to the effects of clinical intervention on different ethnic groups and make recommendations for the future to help couples cope better.

Reviews

"This is an extensive study of incarcerated men and the critical problems they encounter in maintaining family ties. This work is of major value to the field of corrections, as well as to the social work profession."-Albert R. Roberts Rutgers State University of New Jersey
This book should help policymakers carefully consider the relationship between the mission of corrections and inmates' families. It should certainly be read by anyone interested in inmates' families.-Corrections Today
This is a book that should mobilize treatment providers and community leaders interested in developing a correctional system that will strengthen, instead of fragmenting, the abilities of inmates and their families to manage themselves.-Readings
Two of the strongest and most useful chapters are concerned with the kinds of policies and services that assist incarcerees and their families in dealing with imprisonment. Clinical intervention involving these persons and families is discussed, using case examples. There is well-organized discussion of the needs of prison inmates, wives, and children. Excellent suggestions are offered for programs both within the prison and in the community. The authors argue persuasively for keeping the inmate connected to the community''. This is the area in which the authors make their greatest contribution. Their book is a strong and significant addition to the literature on incarcerees and their families.-Contemporary Psychology
"This book should help policymakers carefully consider the relationship between the mission of corrections and inmates' families. It should certainly be read by anyone interested in inmates' families."-Corrections Today
"This is a book that should mobilize treatment providers and community leaders interested in developing a correctional system that will strengthen, instead of fragmenting, the abilities of inmates and their families to manage themselves."-Readings
"Two of the strongest and most useful chapters are concerned with the kinds of policies and services that assist incarcerees and their families in dealing with imprisonment. Clinical intervention involving these persons and families is discussed, using case examples. There is well-organized discussion of the needs of prison inmates, wives, and children. Excellent suggestions are offered for programs both within the prison and in the community. The authors argue persuasively for keeping the inmate connected to the community''. This is the area in which the authors make their greatest contribution. Their book is a strong and significant addition to the literature on incarcerees and their families."-Contemporary Psychology

Author Bio

BONNIE E. CARLSON is Associate Professor, School of Social Work, State University of New York at Albany. She is an editor of No Child Is Unadoptable: Reader on the Adoption of Children with Special Needs (1980) and has written and conducted research on domestic violence, social work with vulnerable groups, and drug addiction. NEIL CERVERA is a Clinical Assistant Professor, Albany Medical College, and Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, State University of New York at Albany. He has written on family support programs, teenage pregnancy, and involuntary childlessness.