The (Dis)continuity of Parenthood Among Incarcerated Fathers: An Analysis of Caregivers’ Accounts

ABSTRACT

The intersection of mass incarceration and fatherhood is of particular interest to a growing number of scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. In this study, the role of fathers in children’s lives before and during imprisonment are investigated from the caregiver perspective. Reliance on caregivers’ accounts offers valuable insight into the complexities of fathers’ involvement with children prior to and during incarceration. Data come from the Arizona Children of Incarcerated Parents (COIP) project and rely on in-depth interviews with a diverse set of 53 caregivers of children, including mothers (current/former partners), grandparents, extended family, and non-relatives. Findings reveal that while slightly more than half of caregivers (58%, n = 31) reported involvement by fathers in the lives of children prior to prison, considerably more (81%, n = 43) reported contact between fathers and children during imprisonment. Thematic content analysis was conducted to explore key themes in caregivers’ narratives to explain the continuity and disconnects in fatherhood. Overall, results highlight the need for intervention efforts that focus on incarcerated fathers and their children that are cognizant of variation in family life, as well as the central role of caregivers.

KEYWORDS:

• Incarceration
• fathers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Melinda Tasca is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Sam Houston State University. Her research interests include correctional policy, the impact of incarceration on families, and the influence of race/ethnicity and gender in the criminal justice system. Her work has been published in outlets such as Justice Quarterly, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Punishment and Society.

Notes

1. Incarcerated fathers were interviewed at the state’s central intake facility which allowed for the sampling of inmates across all security levels (i.e. minimum, medium, close, and maximum custody) and offense types. All male inmates are initially housed in ASPC Alhambra Reception pending security classification (which spans days/weeks). The only exclusion of inmates in this study were maximum security sex offenders as correctional staff did not permit interviewing of these offenders for safety reasons. Maximum security sex offenders, however, are a small portion of the male inmate population in ADC (less than 5%). Researchers were provided with a current count sheet of all inmates in the facility on a daily basis. From that list, every ninth prisoner was identified and subsequently approached by a member of the research team. Correctional staff did not screen or recruit inmates for participation in the study. Researchers would determine eligibility (i.e. whether the inmate reported being a parent of a child under the age of 18) and obtain consent. Interviews took place at tables in a designated area of the unit which ensured confidentiality. Per ADC policy, inmates were not permitted to receive incentives for taking part in interviews. The participation rate of approached and eligible inmates was 96%. This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Arizona State University.

2. Given resource limitations, the sample included only caregivers with children residing in one large Arizona county. A random sample of 75 incarcerated fathers, with home addresses in this County, was compiled from the full sample of 300 fathers. Among those 75 paternal incarceration cases, 16 had a disconnected phone number or an invalid/incorrect number. Two caregivers did not respond to contact attempts, and two other caregivers declined participation in the study. Two interviews were conducted in Spanish but were excluded from the present study as they were not professionally transcribed.