Abstract
Incarceration is often thought to be most relevant to the offender and the victim, yet the network of influence involves parents, children, significant others, and community members. Participants in this project viewed a pre-recorded play highlighting the ripple effects of incarceration, then engaged in a series of discussions sharing their own experiences and concerns. Content analysis of those discussions supported a variety of themes including a perceived lack of productive response from communities of faith. The themes are positioned in the framework of efficacy theory, demonstrating the ebb and flow of this sense of personal control in relation to encounters with incarceration.