Families and Incarceration: A Study of the Kumasi Metropolis

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Date
2013-12-17
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Abstract
Incarceration is said to be a silent killer because nobody wants to talk about it. The incarceration of a spouse or parent makes one a silent widow/widower or orphan since it is not talked about in public. The incarceration of a family member has serious repercussions and normally leads to family crises yet it is taken for granted by the society. This study generally sought to look at the conditions of the passive victims of incarceration. The design of this study was a social survey which employed an in depth interview guide for the collection of qualitative data. Twenty five (25) respondents who were spouses of incarcerated persons at the Kumasi Central Prisons and who have spent at least two (2) years as convicts in the prison were purposively selected to give varied responses on the effects of incarceration on their nuclear families. The study revealed that the incarceration of a person has rippling effects on their spouses and children. Some of the effects of incarceration on children include: trauma and psychological problems associated with the arrest, social stigma and subsequent redraw, poor school performance and high school drop-out rate, substance and alcohol abuse as well as changes in family composition and weakened parental ties. For the spouses left behind, the effects of incarceration identified include: role changes, economic hardships as well as lack of intimacy and possible divorce due to prison restrictions. The researcher recommends that the study should be replicated in other parts of the country to see the variation of the effects of incarceration in respect of rural and urban areas because of their differential social settings. It is the hope of this researcher that this valued information will guide and influence policy in relation to the incarcerated and their relatives who need to be considered in the total process of incarceration.
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A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of Arts in Sociology, July-2013
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