For women in prison, incarceration extends far beyond the individual serving a sentence. “We All Do the Time,” a new book by Dr. Holly Foster-Talbot, a professor at Texas A&M University’s department of sociology, explores how imprisonment reshapes family relationships and community ties while connecting them to the broader social impacts of women’s incarceration.
The book draws on research involving more than 300 women housed in a minimum-security federal prison, most of which were incarcerated for drug related offenses. Foster-Talbot examines how incarcerated women remain connected to family members and communities despite physical separation, and how those relationships influence their emotional well-being while imprisoned. She highlights how familial support serves as an important source of resilience, with outlets like arts and crafts helping them cope with incarceration. This creates belonging that allows them to maintain a connection to the outside world that will serve them later for successful reintegration into society.
The book also reveals significant racial and ethnic disparities in the prison experience. Black and Latina women reported poorer mental health outcomes than white women, even though they often maintained stronger family support networks. Foster-Talbot’s findings suggest these support systems help lessen, but do not eliminate, the unequal burdens experienced by women of color during incarceration.
The study also utilizes women’s narratives from surveys and from face-to-face interviews to explore how women’s incarceration creates ripple effects for families. Because women frequently occupy caregiving roles, their absence can place additional responsibilities on relatives, particularly other women who assume childcare and family obligations. This dynamic can strain familial relationships and contribute to further marginalization by the communities most affected by mass incarceration.
Although women make up a smaller portion of the incarcerated population when compared to men, their absence from the home, especially if they are caregivers, can deeply harm the health of families and communities. This is further exacerbated by the long distances some families must travel to see female inmates, since federal facilities for women are spread farther out across the country. Foster-Talbot’s findings offer insights for policymakers and correctional programs seeking to address racial and ethnic mental health disparities, women’s social exclusion and improve outcomes for incarcerated women and their families, particularly their children.
This research was funded by sources at Texas A&M University and a 21st Century America Scholar Fellowship at UC-Irvine.