Doing Time Together: Love and Family in the Shadow of the Prison

by Megan Comfort

By quadrupling the number of people behind bars in two decades, the United States has become the world leader in incarceration. Much has been written on the men who make up the vast majority of the nation’s two million inmates. But what of the women they leave behind? Doing Time Together vividly details the ways that prisons shape and infiltrate the lives of women with husbands, fiancés, and boyfriends on the inside.

Megan Comfort spent years getting to know women visiting men at San Quentin State Prison, observing how their romantic relationships drew them into contact with the penitentiary. Tangling with the prison’s intrusive scrutiny and rigid rules turns these women into “quasi-inmates,” eroding the boundary between home and prison and altering their sense of intimacy, love, and justice. Yet Comfort also finds that with social welfare weakened, prisons are the most powerful public institutions available to women struggling to overcome untreated social ills and sustain relationships with marginalized men. As a result, they express great ambivalence about the prison and the control it exerts over their daily lives.

An illuminating analysis of women caught in the shadow of America’s massive prison system, Comfort’s book will be essential for anyone concerned with the consequences of our punitive culture.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Megan Comfort is a sociologist at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

The good--The subject matter of this book was really intriguing. It focused on the women of male inmates and how their incarceration affects them emotionally, physically, economically, and spiritually. It was a very enlightening book on a subject matter I have no experience with. The research was thorough and the book provided a lot of statistics to bolster the author's claims. Which leads to the bad...

The bad--I never really understood what the motive behind writing this book was. I originally thought it was going to portray an unbias view of women in relationships with prisoners, but that was clearly thrown out the window during the first chapter where the waiting room is described in great detail. The author seems to place a lot of emphasis on how the Correctional System is making the women "secondary prisoners" by making the prison a horrible place to visit. No duh! This isn't summer camp folks!

The ugly--what's never mentioned in the book is that there is no one making these women endure these relationships. At any time, they are free to leave their partners and most of the general population would applaud them for doing so. However, for a multitude of reasons they don't leave and therefore, must conform to the "laws" of the prison. Another ugly aspect--while I'm sure that the author was trying to remain neutral as far as racial and ethnic lines went, the book did come across as a slightly skewed opinion on how the prisons are just racial segregation centers for the disadvantaged.

Overall, it was a fascinating--albeit, technical--read about maintaining a relationship with someone doing time inside a penitentiary. The only caution I would advise is to begin with an open mind and skim the racial implications stated.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on Comfort's doctoral dissertation. She studied the lives of women whose significant other was imprisoned in San Quentin. She discusses such issues as how the lives of the women are affected in terms of finances and living situation as well as how they too in some respects become part of the prison system having to follow it's not always consistent rules to visit and keep in contact with their partners. She also gives time to such issues as why women choose to stay with men after they go to prison or even begin relationships with men who are already in prison. I found it to be a very interesting book. Parts of it are very filled with theory and references to other studies, so it's not a light reading book. But well worth reading if you're interested in a sociological study of this population.

[Jane Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly interesting read, well-written qualitative analysis. I think there could have been a bit more digging into policy implications and the deeper meanings behind some of the findings, but overall this is an excellent dive into relationship dynamics with incarcerated loved ones, from the perspective of the "outsiders." The purposely ambivalent approach to the prison system was well-executed and allowed for the voices of the interviewees and the notes from observations to shine through and speak for themselves. Highly recommend this read!

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm grateful to Megan Comfort for writing this. It was insightful and expanded my awareness of the experience of families of the incarcerated.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

With thoughtful detail and analysis, Comfort dissects and illuminates how incarceration affects communities and families outside the prison walls. Drawn from her ethnographic research at San Quentin State Prison, Comfort shows the perspective of women whose partners are incarcerated - and how those relationships shift when that person is released. Good book for anyone interested in the sociology and intersection of relationship and incarceration.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit technical in nature, but mostly a fascinating and insightful look at the effect that prison has on women whose men are in prison. Contains many engaging snippets which were gleaned from extensive interviews and thorough fieldwork.