Prison Visitation
Authors: Christian Johnna 
Published: November 2019

As rates of incarceration in the United States increased to the level termed “mass imprisonment,” interest in the broader consequences of correctional involvement also grew. Researchers and policymakers expanded their attention beyond the individual in prison or jail, to examine the lives of those connected to the incarcerated individual, such as family members and friends. Family life is affected in myriad ways when a member is incarcerated. A family may experience the loss of income, parents’ contact with children is restricted, and adult partners’ lives are altered. The incarcerated individual’s parents and broader systems of kin and friendship networks are also impacted by a family members’ incarceration. One important means of staying connected to a person in a correctional institution is prison visitation. Studies indicate that visitation is the least frequent form of contact between the incarcerated and outsiders (phone calls and the exchange of letters is more common), but visitation is nonetheless a significant aspect of incarceration. Visitation is a unique experience for family members in that they are free people who enter correctional facilities and must then abide by institutional rules. At the same time that family members enter institutions to visit, for the incarcerated individual, visitation provides important opportunities to interact with the outside world and maintain familial bonds. There is commonly held wisdom that correctional officials value visitation as a programmatic offering that occupies inmates’ time and provides opportunities for pro-social interactions. Visitation can, however, present challenges, as contact with outsiders may be an avenue for securing contraband. Visitation encounters are tightly regulated, with institutions arguing the rules are necessary for the safety and security of the institution, and some family members experiencing the restrictions as unnecessarily repressive. Published research about prison visitation has developed significantly over the last several decades. The earliest research, linking visitation to inmate outcomes such as institutional behavior and recidivism after release, suffered methodological limitations by not controlling for the factors that could influence both the likelihood of receiving visits from family members and these outcomes. As the research has advanced, the methodological rigor of studies has improved, as well as work applying a range of methodological approaches. Current research examines the experiences of family members (including children) visiting within institutions, inmate experiences of visitation and outcomes during and after release, and visitation modalities such as conjugal and video visitation. Scholars continue mapping out an agenda for future research and policy questions. Topics of particular importance include how to facilitate visitation access for families, making visitation spaces more welcoming and comfortable for family members and children, and using visitation during the incarceration period to facilitate reentry and reintegration into the family and community upon release.