Prison and familialism: Are we using families as reentry agencies?

Abstract

Generally, the analysis of punishment and the effects of imprisonment has only focused on offenders, leaving families in the background without paying attention to the negative effects that prison entails for them. However, some national and international studies have highlighted how families are a key agent in reentry, becoming the main responsible for receiving and supporting people who is released from prison. Although in the Spanish context there are few studies that have focused on the relationship between family and prison, this work arise from the previous literature to propose that there are reasons to consider families as reentry agencies insofar as they are developing functions assigned to this type of institutions (housing, support and supervision). With this purpose, we offer reasons that can explain this situation, highlighting how the prison may be acting as a transmitting institution of traditional family values that characterize Spanish society. Finally, the implications and dangers of presenting families as the main agents of the reentry process are discussed, as well as the problems of transferring into families those functions that should be responsibility of the State.