Who cares?: The burdens of care borne by the loved ones of incarcerated men

The labor and associated challenges of providing informal care have been characterized as constituting a burden of care (BoC). Despite the analytical value this concept has demonstrated in studies of nursing, psychiatry, and health administration, researchers have overlooked this phenomenon in the c...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McDonald, Alysha Danielle (Author)
Contributors: Berardi, Luca ; Haggerty, Kevin D. ; Bucerius, Sandra M. 1978-
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: Punishment & society
Year: 2025, Volume: 27, Issue: 2, Pages: 380-398
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
loved ones
Incarceration
secondary prisonization
informal caregivers
carceral burdens
Burden of care
Description
Summary:The labor and associated challenges of providing informal care have been characterized as constituting a burden of care (BoC). Despite the analytical value this concept has demonstrated in studies of nursing, psychiatry, and health administration, researchers have overlooked this phenomenon in the context of incarceration. Using 181 longitudinal interviews conducted between April 2020 and January 2021 with 29 loved ones of men incarcerated across Canada, we examine the experiences of caregivers trying to meet the outstanding needs of incarcerated people. We find that the BoC arose when caregivers compensated for the correctional system's (real or perceived) failed responsibility to fulfill the basic needs of incarcerated people relating to rehabilitation and release planning, as well as their legal advocacy requirements. We position the BoC as a component of secondary prisonization and use the framework to accentuate the roles caregivers played in reducing the care deficit incarcerated people experienced and, by extension, augmenting the functionality of the prison system. We suggest ways to promote less onerous carceral and reintegrative terms by reducing the unmet needs of incarcerated people and, by extension, the BoC that caregivers bore.
ISSN:1741-3095
DOI:10.1177/14624745251315270