Doing Time on the Outside: Incarceration and Family Life in Urban America

by Donald Braman

"Stigma, shame and hardship---this is the lot shared by families whose young men have been swept into prison. Braman reveals the devastating toll mass incarceration takes on the parents, partners, and children left behind."
-Katherine S. Newman

" Doing Time on the Outside brings to life in a compelling way the human drama, and tragedy, of our incarceration policies. Donald Braman documents the profound economic and social consequences of the American policy of massive imprisonment of young African American males. He shows us the link between the broad-scale policy changes of recent decades and the isolation and stigma that these bring to family members who have a loved one in prison. If we want to understand fully the impact of current criminal justice policies, this book should be required reading."
-Mark Mauer, Assistant Director, The Sentencing Project

"Through compelling stories and thoughtful analysis, this book describes how our nation's punishment policies have caused incalculable damage to the fabric of family and community life. Anyone concerned about the future of urban America should read this book."
-Jeremy Travis, The Urban Institute


In the tradition of Elijah Anderson's Code of the Street and Katherine Newman's No Shame in My Game , this startling new ethnography by Donald Braman uncovers the other side of the incarceration the little-told story of the effects of imprisonment on the prisoners' families.

Since 1970 the incarceration rate in the United States has more than tripled, and in many cities-urban centers such as Washington, D.C.-it has increased over five-fold. Today, one out of every ten adult black men in the District is in prison and three out of every four can expect to spend some time behind bars. But the numbers don't reveal what it's like for the children, wives, and parents of prisoners, or the subtle and not-so-subtle effects mass incarceration is having on life in the inner city.

Author Donald Braman shows that those doing time on the inside are having a ripple effect on the outside-reaching deep into the family and community life of urban America. Braman gives us the personal stories of what happens to the families and communities that prisoners are taken from and return to. Carefully documenting the effects of incarceration on the material and emotional lives of families, this groundbreaking ethnography reveals how criminal justice policies are furthering rather than abating the problem of social disorder. Braman also delivers a number of genuinely new arguments.

Among these is the compelling assertion that incarceration is holding offenders unaccountable to victims, communities, and families. The author gives the first detailed account of incarceration's corrosive effect on social capital in the inner city and describes in poignant detail how the stigma of prison pits family and community members against one another. Drawing on a series of powerful family portraits supported by extensive empirical data, Braman shines a light on the darker side of a system that is failing the very families and communities it seeks to protect.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Race, Politics, Social Justice, Ethnography, Academic

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Chantal]

When one thinks of mass incarceration it is easy to ignore the fact that this phenomenon has a ripple effect from the individuals who are imprisoned, to the criminal justice system itself, and finally the families and communities of those who are incarcerated. With the rise of mass incarceration in America over the past three decades due to the tough on crime approach espoused by policy makers, the effects of incarceration are felt far beyond the individual sitting behind bars, thus resulting in lasting social effects. Doing Time on the Outside, by Donald Braman, presents us with an anthropological view of this issue with detailed descriptions of how the lives of urban Americans and their social networks become strained because of recently implemented laws. The firsthand accounts in this book will make you look at the law in a different light, while offering you an understanding of the burdens many families face when a loved one is imprisoned.

Donald Braman focuses on how criminal justice policies have advanced social disorder in the Ward Eight section of the District of Columbia by presenting empirical data gathered throughout a four year period. In the first part of his book, Braman starts by presenting us with historical background explaining how Ward Eight has reached a point where the majority of men between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five from that community are under correctional supervision. After the Civil War, with sanctions like the Supreme Court overturning portions of the Civil Rights Acts and upholding segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, zoning and exclusionary laws being implemented, the District became a mostly minority, poor neighborhood. Important milestones in history such as the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Brown v. Board, which were supposed to bring equality didn’t, allowing for social injustice within the district. The middle and upper class moved out, taking the community’s social and human capital with them, leaving behind extreme disparities of opportunity. These factors combined with economic changes, rising crime, particularly drug related crimes and the shift in correctional policies allowed the District to become known as the “crime capital of the United States.” (Braman, Pg. 30) This resulted in high incarceration rates which continuously affected the lives of those living in that community.

In Part II, “Kinship,” Braman’s goal is to illustrate how incarceration has affected the structure of families. From the firsthand accounts of three families he interviewed, we see how a father’s absence, attributable to mass incarceration, leads to economic difficulties due to the loss of his income. This is further aggravated by the additional financial cost incurred from his imprisonment. Family members of those incarcerated typically incur high charges from collect calls, money spent from travelling to and from the prison facility, as well as the financial burden of having to contribute to their loved one’s commissary. However, the financial strain is not the only difficulty; incarceration also poses a strain on the interpersonal dynamics of family life. Spouses are left behind and often become the sole caretakers of the children or extended family members take on the responsibility of caring for children who may not have an active maternal figure in their lives. The absence of a father also has profound effects on the children. Braman’s book demonstrates that the absence of the biological father is a strong predictor of abuse in the lives of both the mother and children as well as sexual abuse of female children. We find in many cases that the children often do not perform well in school, boys tend to misbehave and participate in criminal activity, which may eventually lead them to being involved in the criminal justice system themselves.

Braman discusses the role of “Exchange” in the third part of his book which helps us recognize the individual effects of incarceration should not be separated from the effects that it has socially. The accounts presented prove that once a family member is incarcerated not only is the income in the household lowered, but the human capital and networks of exchange are lowered as well. Families and close friends tend to provide exchange by helping one another in many ways. This help ranges from providing child care to providing moral support. Consistent with Bruce Western’s Inequality in America, we find there are high unemployment rates due to not having an education or difficulty reentering in society resulting from having a criminal record. These men tend to help their families out by providing social capital and domestic labor such as taking care of the family, getting the children ready for school, performing handy jobs around the house etc., which allows for the person supplying monetary support to the family to use the money which would have been spent having to outsource those jobs on something else. Relationships of exchange are also very important because when a family member becomes imprisoned, it allows the family members who feel the brunt of the incarceration to have someone to rely upon in times of need.

In the last section of the book entitled “Silence,” the accounts illustrate why most families may hide the incarceration of their loved one from extended family members, friends, or social groups that they belong to and how it influences these relationships. You will discover that the stigma related with incarceration may result in more negativity towards the family members than the prisoner themselves. The association with this stigma leads to shame, silence and isolation, this they refer to as “sticky stigma.” Those family members dealing with incarceration tend to hide the incarceration from their neighbors, employers, co-workers, and church affiliates not wanting to deal with the judgment. Michelle Alexander also touches on this subject in her book The New Jim Crow, by also talking about the shame and stigma one has to deal with for the rest of their lives. Alexander mentions coping strategies that families use to deal with their loved ones being incarcerated such as lying. Lying is used to hide family member’s imprisonment or criminal record to alleviate the stigma of criminality that they may endure. In Addition, as a result of not wanting to deal with the sigma related to having a parent incarcerated, there are cases where children stop wanting to visit their parent in jail, and isolate themselves from friends. In fact, many parents may prevent these children from going out with other kids to avoid having them associating with the wrong crowd. In rare cases spouses or families are unable to deal with the problems associated with having a loved one incarcerated; these persons often sever ties completely with that individual.

By centering his focus on the four factors discussed in the book from an anthropological perspective, Braman successfully demonstrates the effects of incarceration on the family as well as the community as a whole. He also allows you to the see why the law should be more cognizant of the ties that bind both the offender and society together. Although he provides details on what led Ward Eight to become what it is today, this book is lacking in detailed background information resulting such as the recent reforms that have created harsh laws that policy makers design to punish criminal behavior. This information would be very informative for those individuals who may not have that background knowledge. Also, Braman believes that the current laws allow for little accountability from those behind bars, but did not provide solutions to what he views to be a problem. Even though Michael Jacobson’s main focus was also on the phenomenon that is mass incarceration in his book, Downsizing Prisons, he takes it a step further by providing solutions to this problem. Braman failed to do this, thus causing his book to appear a little underdeveloped. This however does not detract from Braman’s effort in explaining how family life and social networks are impacted.

Although this book was written from an Anthropologist’s point-of-view, I think sociologist will appreciate the content in the book. The book can be used as a good pedagogical tool in classes which focus on social networks, sociology of family, and courses which concentrate on imprisonment. The empirical evidence that Braman provides by using Ward Eight as a focal point, can also be used as a model for understanding the problems that other urban American communities and families are facing while dealing with a loved one in prison. The useful knowledge gained can allow us to be more empathic to families facing these issues and helps in providing support. The accounts in this book can allow society to learn to not only focus on those imprisoned, but also the social networks they belong to.

[Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very insightful, well-balanced, level-headed anthropological critique of incarceration's effects on urban life. Of particular interest are the parts of the book that relate to reciprocity, esp. the motivations for maintaining long-term non-reciprocal relationships. Very illuminating, even if I do have some core presuppositional differences with the author on these topics. Read it for school, but chose it out of interest.