Psychological Incarceration Research Paper

Words: 686
Pages: 3

So, what I am being told is that if someone you love and care about is incarcerated, you basically become a prisoner, too? While that does not seem right, that is a substantial fact. As citizens of the United States, we read all about how crime rates throughout the country have been dropping since the 1990s. With this notion in mind, it may be confusing as to how such an extravagant number of people are still imprisoned today and their families continue to suffer greatly. The immediate affects that incarceration of a loved one has on their family and friends are saddening; as it can cause psychological trauma on the children, a revamped lifestyle for others, and certainly financial distress. Megan Comfort, in her chapter of Crime and the Punished, writes, “Like the cue ball breaking the rack in billiards, the punishment of one …show more content…
93) Secondary prisonization is what the person of close relation to the imprisoned person goes through. Women, as it is once again a fact that most prisons are inhabited by men, learn the ropes of the prison, i.e. how to get through security gates properly, what to wear, how many packages can they get into their loved one each month, etc., which thus makes them practically a prisoner as they as so comfortable with abiding by the institution’s rules and regulations. I think this is a very dismal, yet realistic, experience that many women go through nowadays as the prison system in this country is housing record-breaking numbers. It is, however, not surprising that women and child experience such psychological and emotional trauma as their loved one is imprisoned. All we can hope for, after reading this chapter of the book, is that the criminal justice system will lessen their arrests so families can live