DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38003
title: Understanding Incarceration and Re-Entry Experiences of Female Inmates and Their Children: The Women's Prison Inmate Networks Study (WO-PINS), Pennsylvania, 2017-2018
title: Archival Version

description: This study advances the understanding of incarceration and reentry, and their consequences for women by focusing on prison social systems and their informal network structures. The data for this project are aimed at four research questions: (1) What is the informal social structure within prison? (2) How are inmates' positions within the informal structure correlated with their health? (3) What are the consequences of informal social structure and inmates' positions within it for inmate-level and prison-level outcomes? and (4) How does in-prison and out-of-prison social capital correspond with community reentry and family reintegration? In phase 1, network data were collected for "get along with best" and "power and influence" nominations along with survey data to contextualize the measured networks. In phase 2, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eligible respondents to gather expectations for re-entry and anticipated egocentric support networks. Phase 3 followed paroled inmates for two subsequent interviews, and also gathered interviews with their children, and the children's caretakers. Administrative records were used to construct a recidivism supplement that is appropriate for modeling the hazard of recidivism following release. Behavioral data are combined from multiple sources, including inmate surveys, prison work records, misconduct records, drug tests, visitation lists, and gang classification data.
description: This project applied a mixed-methods design focused on the conditions of confinement and community re-entry experiences of women incarcerated in two Pennsylvania women's prisons. The project unfolded in three phases. In Phase 1, the research team designed and implemented a network and health survey administered to residents in three women's units in two prisons (one minimum-security prison and one maximum-security prison). The emphasis of this phase was to understand the informal social structures within the prison units and prisoners' positions within those structures. In Phase 2, the research team identified and recruited participants in Phase 1 who were release-eligible within one year of the baseline survey. The incarcerated women were administered semi-structured interviews prior to release to understand their future concerns and expectations about reentry. Of particular interest were incarcerated mothers' plans and expectations for child reunification. While respondents with children remained incarcerated, primary caregivers of incarcerated mothers' children and at least one child were interviewed. Caregiver interviews examined the burdens imposed on caregivers by the mother's incarceration and the caregivers support plans (or lack thereof) for returning incarcerated mothers. The child interviews measured retrospective experiences prior to their mother's incarceration, current health and adjustment, and children's expectations and fears related to the reunification process. In Phase 3, the research team followed paroled prisoners and their children for follow-up interviews after prison release. One year after all interviewed women were released, the research team gathered administrative data on post-release arrests and potential reincarceration. The primary purpose of this phase was to understand, from the perspective of the released women, their children and caregivers, the challenges and opportunities faced upon leaving prison, particularly related to family reunification and well-being.
description: <strong>Phase 1:</strong> Survey data were collected from incarcerated women in three units in two Pennsylvania women's prisons. Data from the first women's unit were collected in the summer of 2017 in a Pennsylvania state minimum-security women's prison. Data from the second- and third-women's units were collected in a state maximum-security women's prison approximately one year after the first unit. The first and second units were classified as "good behavior" (i.e., residents were required to be misconduct-free for up to 12 months prior to entry and remain misconduct-free during their residence), whereas the third unit was a general population unit adjacent to the second "good behavior" unit in the maximum-security prison. Researchers administered Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) surveys to respondents in face-to-face interviews over approximately one hour. Along with the survey, respondents completed informed consent and capacity to consent processes. <strong>Phases 2 and 3:</strong> Participants eligible for parole within one year of completing the phase 1 survey were recruited into the reentry portion of the study. Phase 2 consisted of 22 respondents from the first prison and 63 respondents from the second prison completing pre-release prison interviews. Phase 3 consisted of 56 total community interviews of 14 formerly incarcerated women, 14 caregivers, and 18 children before interviewing was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
description: The survey included questions on the following topics: General prison experiences Relationship Children Visitation Peer relationships and networks Romantic and sexual experiences in prison (Site 2 only) Work assignments (Site 1 only) Prison groups Mental and physical health Prison victimization Pre-prison criminal involvement and victimization Childhood victimization Unit social integration Race relations Impulsivity
description: Not applicable.
description: Response Rates: The response rate across the three units ranged from 74-82%, with a total sample size of 222 women. Three women were excluded from analyses because they failed to meet the capacity to consent threshold.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Unit 1 Survey Data DS2: Unit 2 Survey Data DS3: Unit 3 Survey Data DS4: Social Network Data DS5: Recidivism Data
description: Incarcerated women in three units in two Pennsylvania women's prisons, and children of incarcerated mothers and the children's caregivers. Smallest Geographic Unit: None.
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI); face-to-face interviewDataset 4 of the study collection includes a zipped data package available with restricted access. The zipped package contains 23 Social Network Data files in .csv format, as well as supplemental documentation. Please see the ICPSR README for Social Network Data for additional information.The qualitative interview transcripts collected for this study are not available as part of the data collection at this time.Data for the WO-PINS project were collected in two prisons across three units with voluntary participation and open enrollment of prisoner respondents. After survey administration, 3 participants were identified as lacking capacity to consent to research using the University of California, San Diego Brief Assessment of Capacity to Consent (UBACC). Survey responses from these individuals were removed from the dataset by the research team and made to appear as unit members who did not take the survey and their outgoing network nominations were set to zero. They are retained as potential alters or isolates in the network matrices.