Mothers' Reentry into Family Life Following Incarceration

“For example, many mothers are incarcerated far from home and have limited contact with their children during their confinement (Bloom & Steinhart, 1993; Costa, 2003; Hagan & Dinovitzer, 1999 ).”

“This can be a vulnerable time for women and their families and is an important point for support services (Arditti & Few, 2006).”

“Some studies have estimated that incarcerated parents are nearly twice as likely to experience depression as non-parents (Arditti & Few, 2006; Turney et al., 2012).”

“In addition, Arditti and Few (2006) argue that mental illness, family violence, and struggles with addiction in the lives of mothers recently released from prison constitute what they conceptualize as “a triple threat” that may undermine their ability to engage in high-quality parenting behaviors.”

“…income and benefits, including health 642 Criminal Justice Policy Review 33(6) care coverage, poor health, and household and marital instability (Arditti & Few, 2006; Massoglia & Schnittker, 2009; Miller & Barnes, 2015; Provencher & Conway, 2019; Turanovic & Rodriguez, 2017; Turney, 2014;…”

“When they arrived at the prison they were provided with longer, higher quality visits with access to activities and games (Arditti & Few, 2006; 2008; Sharratt & Cheung, 2014); the visiting room was far less intimidating with no visible prison staff (Sharratt & Cheung, 2014).”

“Unfortunately there are multiple barriers to sustaining frequent contact, including prison policies governing arrangements for contact, the remaining parent/carer’s capacity to facilitate contact, and the distance to prison and associated travel costs (Arditti and Few 2006).”

“Parental incarceration is known to increase a child’s opportunities to associate with delinquent peers, struggle with mental illness, grow up in a single parent household, and experience other stressors (Arditti & Few, 2006; James & Glaze, 2006; Murray & Farrington, 2005).”

“This is problematic given that female community supervision clients often face unique challenges such as motherhood (Arditti & Few, 2006; Brown & Bloom, 2009), are more likely to be convicted of nonviolent crimes (Spjeldnes & Goodkind, 2009), and have a history of childhood and/or sexual abuse…”

“For instance, women are more likely to experience mental illness and a history of physical and sexual victimization (Arditti & Few, 2006).”

“For women, reestablishing relationships with family and children is critical to successful reentry (Arditti & Few, 2006).”

“Since there is very limited research in the Japanese context, we will mostly rely on previous studies outside of Japan, especially the United States, where there is a wealth of evidence-based research available.”

“…of adverse experiences such as poverty, abuse, physical/mental health diagnoses, substance abuse, family difficulties, and poor social networks (Arditti & Few, 2006; Brown & Bloom, 2009; Kjellstrand & Eddy, 2011b); problems which can persist when the individuals reenter the community after…”

“…who experience incarceration are also at risk – they are more likely to experience poverty, abuse, physical and mental illnesses, substance use disorders and a lack of familial or social support both before and after incarceration (Arditti & Few, 2006; Nosrati et al., 2019; Piper & Berle, 2019).”

“Arditti and Few (2006) interviewed mothers (n=28) who were reentering society; every mother reported that their incarceration put a significant strain on their children and family.”

“Among incarcerated women, perceived parenting competence has been found to decline during their time in custody (Arditti & Few, 2006).”

“This finding mirrors Greer’s (2000) observations on relational tensions in Nigerian prisons and contrasts with Arditti and Few (2006) emphasis on peer solidarity in U.S. correctional settings.”

“…lead women to break the law in the fi rst place, and the post-release actualities of formerly incarcerated women are intrinsically distinct from men (Arditti and Few, 2006; Arditti and Few, 2008; Brown and Bloom, 2009; Carlton and Segrave, 2014; Cobbina, 2010; Covington, 2001; Jeffries et al.,…”

“For these reasons, some incarcerated mothers refuse to meet their children and, instead, limit contact to letters or phone calls (Arditti & Few, 2006; Baldwin, 2018; Cooper-Sadlo et al., 2019).”

“Women who are incarcerated, particularly mothers, often face mental health issues, inadequate parenting resources, family reconfiguration, and difficulty in reestablishing social support when entering the period of post-incarceration (Arditti and Few 2006; Opsal and Foley 2013).”

“For women, reestablishing relationships with family and children is critical to successful reentry (Arditti & Few, 2006).”

“…the family members may be treated disrespectfully by correctional officers, and incarcerated parents may find the continued hassles of institutions’ visiting rules not worth the effort of a visit (Arditti, 2003; Arditti & Few, 2006; Arditti, Lambert- 9 Shute, & Joest, 2003; Loper et al., 2009).”

“…and international studies have been reported regarding fathers serving as a barrier to the mother–child relationship in prison and upon release (Arditti & Few, 2006; Mumola, 2000) and women often having limited time to organise care options, and children ending up in their fathers’ care due…”

“Frequent communication between an incarcerated mother and her children has been shown to reduce parenting stress (Houck & Loper, 2002) and incentivize the mother to work toward release and reuni fi cation goals (Arditti & Few, 2006).”

“Consistent with other research (Arditti & Few, 2006; Brown & Bloom, 2009), this theme explicated the stressors fostered by attempts of justice-involved women to reunite with their children and resume childrearing practices.”

“In this paper, we extend research on the challenges of parenting at the intersection of two punitive systems (Arditti and Few, 2006; Brown and Bloom, 2009; Garcia-Hallett, 2019; Robison and Hughes Miller, 2016; Wilson and Koons-Witt, 2021).”

“Because most close relatives and friends are also in higher age, the amount of personal visits is particularly badly affected by long distances between the usual place of residence and the correctional facility (Aday & Krabill, 2012; Arditti & Few, 2006; Christian, 2005; Meuschke, 2018).”

“Reunification Most incarcerated mothers plan to reunite with their children (Arditti & Few, 2006; Leverentz, 2014).”