Exploring Factors Influencing Family Members Connections to Incarcerated Individuals in New Jersey, 2005-2006

In order to develop a better understanding of the factors that influence whether a male prisoner's family stays involved in his life during incarceration, researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with inmates from two New Jersey prisons and their family members between May 2005 and July 2006. A total of 35 (25 from one prison and 10 from the other) inmates and 15 family members were interviewed, comprising 13 inmate and family dyads, 1 inmate and family triad, and an additional 21 inmate interviews. The data include variables that explore the family's relationship with the incarcerated individual in the following areas: the inmate's relationship with the family prior to the incarceration, the strain (emotional, economic, stigma) that the incarceration has placed on the family, the economic resources available to the family to maintain the inmate, the family's social support system, and the inmate's efforts to improve or rehabilitate himself while incarcerated.