Impact of Incarceration on Families: A Single-Jurisdiction Pilot Study Using Triangulated Administrative Data & Qualitative Interviews

The University of South Carolina will conduct a study using administrative data from multiple agencies and qualitative interview/focus group data from prisoners and their families. This research study seeks to address a critical gap in knowledge and to inform policy and practice. Specifically, the grantee is interested in the ways in which incarceration's impact on families is distributed over several key community service systems and implications of this for developing networked interventions that maximize utility of such systems. The research questions include:
o How does offender incarceration impact family members physical and mental health?
o Utilization of health services for stress-related diseases and mental health services for emotional and behavioral disorders will increase for family members from the pre-incarceration to post-release period.
o How does offender incarceration impact childrens involvement with child welfare and juvenile justice systems?
o Children of prisoners will demonstrate higher rates of out of home placements in both child welfare and juvenile justice systems from the pre-incarceration to the post-release period.
o Children of female prisoners will be more likely to experience an out of home placement in the child welfare system as compared to children of male prisoners.
o How does offender incarceration impact the economic status of family members?
o The number of families who receive economic benefits such as TANF will increase from the pre-incarceration to the post-release period.
o How does offender incarceration impact school stability and academic performance of children?
o Children of prisoners will demonstrate higher rates of school mobility and decreasing educational testing scores from the pre-incarceration to the post-release period.
Research Subjects: The sample will be drawn from three correctional facilities: 1) Turbeville Correctional Institution for adult males sentenced under the Youthful Offenders Act (17-25 yrs.; capacity: 547); 2) Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution, a maximum security facility (adult female; capacity: 245); and 3) Broad River Correctional Institution, a maximum security facility (adult male; capacity 1006). An estimated 1,000 focal inmates and their families (quantitative portion of study). An estimated 100 interviewees (qualitative portion of study).
Research Design and Methods: Single-jurisdiction pilot study. Mixed methods. Quantitative (principally administrative data from multiple agencies; linear or logistic regression, Wald test, exploratory analysis, hazard analysis, Cox regression models) and qualitative (interviews, focus groups; grounded theory approach).ca/ncf