RT Article
T1 Mothers Inside and Out? Pseudo-Families and Motherhood in a Women’s Prison
JF Crime & delinquency
VO 71
IS 5
SP 1388
OP 1410
A1 Dillavou, Julia
A2 Kreager, Derek A.
A2 Greenfelder, Theodore
A2 Zhang, Yiwen
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/192371029X
AB The pseudo-family is a longstanding carceral concept, but its existence and characteristics are uncertain in contemporary women’s prisons. This study explores pseudo-family membership and pseudo-motherhood among 132 women incarcerated in a maximum-security prison. Self-reported data reveal that the pseudo-family remains an active concept in the sampled prison, with over half of the surveyed women reporting prison family membership. Pseudo-mothers are perceived as maternal, supportive, and wise by their pseudo-children. Multivariate OLS and logistic regressions suggest that pseudo-mothers had similar relationship quality with, and visitation from, their biological children, compared to other imprisoned mothers. These findings contribute to our understanding of women’s adaptations to incarceration and have implications for family reunification policies.
K1 pseudo-families
K1 Motherhood
K1 Gender
K1 Incarceration
DO 10.1177/00111287221083884