Understanding Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Differences in the Relationship between Prison Visitation and Recidivism

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This project will examine the impact of prison visitation on recidivism with a focus on how this relationship may vary by gender and across racial and ethnic groups. The mass incarceration movement has done little to reduce the likelihood of continued criminal behavior by released offenders. Given that imprisonment rates have grown rapidly among women and racial and ethnic minorities, the harmful effects of incarceration are increasingly felt among these groups. Males and females, and prisoners from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, may have access to different levels and types of social support during imprisonment, and can face unique social and structural disadvantages upon their release from prison. As such, the quality of visitation encounters and the function that visits serve may differ across groups. The current project examines these possibilities by combining quantitative and qualitative data on prisoners in Arizona. Quantitative data on over 15,000 prisoners released from 2011-2013 will be used to establish broad patterns between visitation and recidivism among a racially and ethnically diverse population. Qualitative data from interviews on 231 prisoners currently incarcerated will provide more detailed information on inmates? experience with visitation. In combination, the analyses will help determine who benefits from prison visitation and why.