Secondary narratives in the aftermath of crime: Defining family members' relationships with prisoners

Abstract

In the research presented here, we apply the storyline framework of the criminal event to the secondary narrative of prisoners' relationships with family members before and during incarceration, and their plans for life upon release from prison. Analyzing 29 in-depth interviews from 13 inmate/family dyads and one inmate/family triad, we examine multiple views of the impact of incarceration and its consequences for the incarcerated individual, the family member, and their connections to each other. We demonstrate that these relationships follow three distinct yet intersecting secondary narratives - disrupted, transforming, and precarious - characterized by different qualities of pre-incarceration relationships, impacts on family members' lives, and plans for the future. Defining the characteristics of these narratives is important because each narrative has specific implications for the family member's willingness and capacity to support the prisoner and potentially limit future offending behavior. © The Author(s) 2011.