Constructing and maintaining family in the context of imprisonment

For many families affected by imprisonment, the prison can become a central and damaging force in their lives. Yet, to fully understand the impact of imprisonment upon families, there is a need for greater critical engagement with the concept of the family, and how this is defined and operationalised. Utilising Finch’s theory of family practices, this article will argue that the family relationships affected by imprisonment are not only highly individual, but also actively constructed through embodied displays of care and commitment. However, we must guard against privileging family displays that fit most comfortably within a white, middle-class framework, and ensure that the voices of all families affected by imprisonment are heard in the growing conversations about their needs. Key words: families affected by imprisonment, family practices

Supporting families, promoting desistance? Exploring the impact of imprisonment on family relationships

Families affected by imprisonment are attracting growing research attention, inspired in no small part by the theorising of desistance scholars which suggests that families have a crucial role in reducing reoffending. Yet, these arguments have been critiqued by those who suggest that the prison has a damaging impact upon families, who therefore must be supported in their own right. This chapter will argue that adopting a more relational perspective, which recognises the central role of reciprocity in family life and desistance, can reveal new insights as to how both families and resettlement might be supported. However, given the high levels of social marginality experienced by many families, such approaches will always be limited. This calls into question models of desistance that suggest families can provide stocks of social capital, and gives cause to reflect on the true costs of imprisonment

The complex information needs of disadvantaged young first-time mothers : insights into multiplicity of needs

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to holistically explore the information needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged young first-time mothers and associated issues of complexity. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used survey and semi-structured field interviews with 39 young mothers (aged 15–23) from UK areas of multiple deprivations. Findings: Participants reported multiple and complex needs spanning interrelated topics of parenting, poverty and personal development. In the majority of instances, participants were either unsure of their ability to meet their needs or needed help with needs, and several described situations of considerable anxiety and stress. Multiplicity is identified and conceptualised as an important factor contributing to complexity, including three component elements: simultaneous occurrence of needs (concurrency), relationships between needs (interconnectivity) and evolving needs (fluidity). In various combinations, these elements influenced a mother's actions and/or ability to selectively attend to needs, with multiple needs often competing for attention, and compounding issues of cognitive load and affect. Research limitations/implications: This study draws attention to multiplicity of needs as an understudied topic within human information behaviour and calls for further research into how people recognise and attend to complex needs and influencing factors. Practical implications: This study raises important questions regarding how we approach complexity of information needs in our design and delivery of information systems and services. Originality/value: Evidences disadvantaged young mothers to have more extensive and complex information needs than previously understood, and identifies and conceptualised multiplicity as an important factor contributing to the complexity of information needs during major life transitions such as motherhood

Integrated Case Management: The View of Social Workers

• Access to the Community Integration Plan (CIPs) before the case conference is variable. • There was substantial criticism of the large volume of information contained in CIPs noting that much of it was repeated elsewhere, or that it was out of date or irrelevant.  • Despite irregular access to the CIP 86% of respondents felt that enough preparation was done before case conferences.  • Prison and community based social workers were present at substantially more conferences than other professionals.  • Despite this general view that attendance from other agencies could be sporadic, 68% of respondents felt the ICM process enhanced multi-agency working and a further quarter stated that this was sometimes the case.  • The majority of practitioners felt the conferences are generally useful for the prisoner with just 18% stating they were only sometimes useful and 1% feeling they were ‘not really beneficial’.  • There is confusion about who should invite family members to the conference, and there was also concern regarding the amount of preparation done with the family.  • Respondents were divided as to whether there was consistency in the approach to ICM across the prison estate.  • Nearly two-thirds of respondents felt the ICM process could be improved, with most comments focusing the need for better inter-agency attendance, concerns that case conferences could be repetitive or fail to cover issues relevant to the prisoner at certain points in their sentence, and that the day to day prison regime could be a practical barrier to conducting productive case conferences

Families, imprisonment and penal power : a radical analysis

This paper is concerned with the exercise of penal power over families affected by imprisonment, and the implications for legitimacy and inclusion. Imprisonment imposes harms upon families, however theories as to how this shapes attitudes towards the justice system and feelings of citizenship are still developing. This paper brings together insights from prison sociology and Lukes’ radical conceptualisation of power to argue that prison rules are the most ‘solid’ dimension of power which families encounter, and therefore it is the day-to-day decisions of officers which are most likely to be challenged. However, by excluding families from decision-making spaces, and shaping beliefs about what actions are possible and desirable, the justice system also exercises power over families in more diffuse ways which, while they provoke less resistance, are just as damaging to citizenship and inclusion

Constructing family in the context of imprisonment: a study of prisoners and their families in Scotland

This thesis explores what it is like for families when a person is sentenced to a period of imprisonment in Scotland. Drawing on interviews with men and women in custody, family members in the community and relevant professionals this thesis will argue that the family relationships affected by imprisonment are many and varied: just as in wider society there is no one model of “prisoners’ families”. Despite the restriction of liberty inherent to a prison sentence, these families find creative ways to maintain relationships through active, embodied ‘displays’ and ‘practices’ such as physical affection, revisiting shared memories and traditions and the sharing of food, routines, family time and other ‘home comforts’. It is these displays that define and characterise family relations, rather than strict categories of blood or marriage. Yet imprisonment imposes a number of barriers to reciprocal family relationships and maintaining these active displays takes considerable effort on the part of the family outside. This division of emotional and practical labour is highly gendered, and as a result supporting a family member in custody can serve to entrench both gendered caring roles and the social marginality already experienced by participants. Finally, this thesis will argue that the complexity of family life is often not fully reflected in criminal justice policy or practice, yet the ways in which families are seen and responded to have implications for the overall legitimacy of the system. Together, these claims should cause us to reflect critically on the wider costs of imprisonment

Meaningful digital health interventions : bridging digital divides via tailored design

Addressing issues of low digital literacy, access and use, this paper reports on an exploratory project that sought to develop a prototype tailored digital portal to facilitate meaningful digital interventions between young mothers and their support workers. The projects responds to calls for “person-based” and “persuasive” approaches to digital health interventions (e.g. Yardely et al, 2015) and recognition that “more work is needed to create successful [digital health] engagement strategies” (e.g. O’Conner et al, 2016, p1)

Girls and Young Women in the Girls and Young Women in the Youth Justice System – Vulnerable or Risky?

This short briefing paper examines the complexities around identification and effective intervention for girls and young women viewed as vulnerable and who may be at risk of future offending. The CJSW Development Centre’s National Development (Champions) Group for vulnerable girls and young women undertook a profiling exercise in an attempt to obtain a better understanding of the needs and vulnerabilities of girls and young women involved in, or on the periphery of, the youth justice system. While limitations of the data collection tool and methodology preclude wide generalisations, the complexities in attempting to identify individuals who may be at future risk of offending based on assessment of present and past needs and vulnerabilities is apparent. Despite the identification of often substantial vulnerabilities and needs in a sample of 12 to 16 year olds, it appears the majority of girls and young women were not involved in serious or persistent offending behaviour. The findings have implications for policy and practice development, which are now focussed on the development of effective and early interventions for all young people considered to be at risk of future offending

Developing Information Literacy in Dependent and Disadvantaged Circumstances: A Transitional Approach in the Digital Health Context

The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of approaches to information literacy skills development in disadvantaged and dependent circumstances, and the role of information behaviour investigations in informing meaningful interventions in context. We report on work with young mothers