STRUCTURAL INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR WOMEN PRISONERS RELEASED TO RURAL COMMUNITIES.
Incarceration and community reentry for rural women reflect gendered processes. We draw upon in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus groups to examine the return of women prisoners to underserved rural communities, while attending to the perspectives of their closest social supporters. Our findings underscore the complexity of the reentry process for rural women and its particular impact on their families. We challenge dominant discourses of personal responsibility that detract from the structura violence and injustice shaping reentry experiences for women and their social supporters. We also consider the policy implications of discharge and reentry planning for rural women and their families, as well as strategies to reduce recidivism.
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest, 612 Encino Place, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102, cwillging@pire.org , .
Cathleen E
CE
Willging
University of the Pacific, Department of Sociology, 3601 Pacific Ave., Stockton, CA 95211, enicdao@pacific.edu , .
Ethel G
EG
Nicdao
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest, 612 Encino Place, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102, etrott@pire.org , .
Elise M
EM
Trott
Department of Sociology/Anthropology, University of Maine, Farmington, 240 Main Street, Farmington, ME 04938, nicole.kellett@maine.edu , .
Nicole C
NC
Kellett
New Mexico; community reentry; family; incarcerated women; rural