Exploring the Impact on Relatives of Prisoners: A Qualitative Study

This report presents a qualitative research study focusing on the experiences of individuals whose relatives are incarcerated. It utilizes focus group interviews to understand the emotional, social, and financial impacts on these relatives. Thematic analysis is employed to interpret the data, revealing feelings of social stigma, shame, increased delinquency risks, and psychological distress. The report discusses the challenges faced by relatives, such as Josie, who deals with her son's repeated incarcerations and the associated emotional and financial burdens. It also highlights the difficulties faced by elderly relatives, like Frank, who struggle with the stress and embarrassment of their grandson's imprisonment. The study emphasizes the importance of support groups like PRAG in providing a safe space for sharing experiences and seeking motivation. Overall, the research sheds light on the often-overlooked impact of imprisonment on the families and support networks of incarcerated individuals.

Qualitative Research Methods
for Social Scientists

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Epistemology and ethics.............................................................................................................3
Thematic analysis........................................................................................................................4
Discussion...................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Qualitative research is basically a type
of social science research which helps in collecting and working with non-numerical data. This
also seeks for interpreting meaning from the same data which helps in understanding social life
through the study of targeted places or populations. These methods of qualitative research can
include field surveys, laboratory experiments, ethnographic research, case research and many
more. This report will basically shed light on focus group interview by an individual whose
relative is in prison. He wants to know the feeling of the people who come to meet their relatives
who are in prison. The qualitative method will help in evaluating the effectiveness of the focus
group interview (Kamruzzaman, 2017). Their feelings will be recorded and also Rachael has
taken ethical approval from the University for the Research. Various participants will be
interviewed for the same including Josie, Victoria and Frank who has their relatives in prison for
some reasons and some time.
MAIN BODY
Epistemology and ethics
This is very clear that the prison impacts the prisoner in the jail but this fact also cannot
be denied that their relatives are also impacted by the same greatly. This can lead to feelings of
social stigma, shame, increased delinquency, increased risk of neglect and abuse and many more.
The knowledge which is gained regarding this helped in knowing that there are not much
positive impacts of the same but on the other hand there are various negative impacts. This type
of commitment also develops various psychological risks for the prisoners. This can be evaluated
that some of them experience anxiety, rage, panic, hallucinations and depression especially when
they are confined for longer time periods.
This can be evaluated from the interview conversation that some of the people like Josie are
prepared for the thing that their relative will be in prison which is why they do not get shocked
after hearing the same. The time when anyone’s relative gets into prison is really very
disappointed and everyone wishes that they remain safe instead of going to the prison. Most of
the people started crying and can’t control their emotions. The major ethics are to evaluate
whether there is a reason behind the same or they are going through this because of others
(Zahars and Stivrenieks, 2018). Another critical time is that when the person needs to go to the
3

prison to meet their relatives. They need to follow some ethics as well as formalities before
meeting them. They can’t become aggressive as they need to wait for a long because there are
already many people waiting for the same. They need to stand in the queue to wait for the
moment when they can meet their relative. They need to show their ID cards so that the staffs of
the jail know that there are some people to visit a particular person. They also need to assure that
they do not disturb anybody out there as there are various rules in jail which are to be followed.
The visitors also need to keep their purses, phone and everything outside in the locker and they
are not supposed to take anything with them. Some of the people scream when they meet their
closed one and hugs them tightly because they wait for this moment for so long and seeing their
closed one in such situation is much more disappointed.
Thematic analysis
Qualitative research is said to be one of the prominent aspect which gets carried away by the
most identifying factors which are prevailing in the environment of the surroundings. Qualitative
data is necessary in order to interpret the patterns that are in regard to the research. The research
is completely oriented with material as well as the sciences that are incorporated to bring out the
knowledge with regard to a kind of quality which is being maintained by different analytical
approaches. The style of research will also depend upon how far the organisation or an
educational institution emphasize and individual upon bring about the facts that are necessary to
be demonstrated (Tannady and et.al, 2018). Thematic analysis will enhance the entire research
and the qualifying mechanism is properly pained to all the conceptual exemptions. Automatic
analysis is necessary in order to distinguish between the factors that will bring about the
reliability regarding approaches which are being taken by an individual. Their approaches are
also term to be reflexive approaches and they conclude upon the thematic analysis. This also
reflects upon growing and interest towards the distinctive methodology that is being derived as a
part of research. This technique is a part of qualitative data analysis which is also a method of
contract for all the analytical data to be presented as a part of research (Zhao and et.al, 2019,
August). This will disclose every information that is in regard to the research and also helps
people to understand the scientific origins of all the components that are a part of research. The
different philosophical as well as the conceptual entrants are being highlighted and also are
4

explained in a proper orientation such that the methods will not be able to go in a very
complicated approach.
Discussion
The analysis of this data is about the experiences having during the time when a male
relative is in the prison. This is a qualitative research where an interview was conducted and
people came and shared what they feel during this time regarding some relative being in prison.
Prison advice groups is a social group which supports and provides help in legal and financial
matters for its members. Josie is a woman whose son, Josh is in prison serving a five year
sentence for drug related matters (Scambler, 2018.). He is in his early twenties which is
considered a peak time for career development. Josh going to the prison again was not very
shocking for his mother Josie, but he plead guilty so as to have a comparatively less serving
years in the jail. Josie is in the state where she can just hope that her son is not guilty of what he
is accused of, but somewhere in her heart she knows this is not true and is therefore prepared for
the consequences. Josie is done with all these suffering and struggles faced because of the bad
activities of his son. She explained her irritation on the waiting during the time when she goes to
visit her son in Prison.
She has to wait for the bus, for the phone calls and also the wait while going into the
prison. She is very annoyed by all the wait and believes that the important time I her life is
wasted in the waiting period for just to see her son or hear his voice on call. She has also shared
her main problem with Josh going to prison is that he was disconnected with her girlfriend and
daughter. Josie is scared to break this news to Josh as she thinks that with all this prison and all,
Josh might lose his cool and might even hit someone in this much anger. Doing such activities
can lead to increase the sentence which had made Josie come in a tough spot in deciding what to
do. Not telling is the choice from Josie's side but there are many other sources which can break
this news into the ears of Josh (Berry, 2020). The only safe way to handle this matter is with the
help of Josie's brother. Josie is trying to put Josh in some good influence such as her brother who
can talk him down during serious matters and help him handle his anger. Josie on other feel that
she might be way too coward because a mother she cannot see her child suffering and hurting to
this extent but is always there for him.
This news on obvious levels made Josh upset but had a hope that her daughter would still
come and visit him someday but Josie expressed how helpless they feel. Having a prison officer
5

on side makes living a bit easy for the prisoners. That person becomes the closest thing to a
friend in such cases. People such as Josie are at very lonely place in their life. She is tired of
cleaning the bad works of Josh and visiting prison and seeing her son ding bad habits has
become a part of Josie's life at this stage and has been the same since beginning where she used
to go meet principle of the school for something which Josh did for almost every day. Some
prisoners also suffers from some problems, in case of Josh, he was diagnosed with attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder which somewhere created a hope in the Josie that Josh will get
some help and things can change for better good but nothing good happened, rather, he turned
worse. The prison makes the people like Josh develop more and quick temper which are easy to
wind up in bad things and habits.
The struggles of Josh from school this phase had made his mother suffer and struggle
equally. Josie explains like lack of help in school for kids like Josh can result in creating such
situations such as getting expelled, trouble with the police and coming under the bad influence of
people. This shows that Josie has given up all her hopes on Josh even when he will manage to
get out the jail and cannot cope up with the healthy and good living now. She just wants a normal
life and a chance to doing all things differently (Ferguson, 2017). People like Josh will find their
way again to the bad habits even if they do not want to. With all this, there is a reputation created
for Josh which will make the police think its him even if he is innocent. Police will keep a
regular check on the things done by Josh. Moreover, people like Josie whose main earner of
family is in jail suffers from financial problems with the threat of the people whom Josh owned
some money. Such people can be very dangerous to the families of the people like Josh and go to
any extent to get the money back. These situations are so much worse that people even feel like
committing suicide.
Another person part if the interview process is Frank who is suffering because his
grandson is in prison. They have expressed the problems faced by the elderly people caught up in
such matters. His wife is suffering from problems and this whole process was very
overwhelming for them so much they skipped the court during the day when the verdict was
coming as all that tension and stress can cause his wife to have a heart attack. People in such old
age cannot sleep properly as they think a lot about the negative parts and take so much strains.
Visiting relatives in prison is very exhausting for them. Frank expressed his gratitude such
groups which makes their life a bit easy and creates a space where sharing what they feel is easy.
6

They look for motivation from people Josie who are very brave and handle this strongly. These
people are so embarrassed that they will keep all a big secret and lie to their friends and family.
They will feel bad seeing other children from the same age group to do well in their life.
However, people are groups like PRAG are all going through the same thing, and they
can express their shame along with the feeling of being drained. They start to question
themselves about where did they lack or where they did wrong to bring in such devastating
outcomes (Alix, and et.al., 2017). Frank can now just look back at time and be happy about the
things done by his grandson which raise his head high with proud. The main cause of this is the
influence of bad people. He also expressed the feeling of being trapped in a prison itself even
when it is the relative who is in one. Every visitor sitting in the waiting area of the prison is heart
broken and hopeless. He expressed his pain that nobody else will understand such as the transfer
of prisoners to other prison which is even farther and costs more to visit. He is also saving some
amount which will help his grandson once he comes out of the prison to his start his life as
people are not very open minded in employing someone who has served before. Frank has also
managed to find some positive points even in such complicated process such as how this all has
made him independent to use things like computers and gaining knowledge about so much legal
and otherwise things. They are the collateral damage between all this who will worry about
things and situations taking place inside the prison such as smuggling of drugs and fights. He
explained about the challenge faced by them during the time of their visit like they have to come
up with the ways to keep the conversation going on because silence there creates a feeling of
depression for both of them.
The third case is Victoria who used to live with his son before he went to prison and now
lives alone. She explicit her pain from going to visit her son in the prison which takes up the
whole day giving no surety that even after going this far, they will be allowed inside or not if
anything happens inside the prison. Not just this, they to stand in large queue and wait for hours
until they are allowed to step in the prison. There are kids , senior citizens, everyone, just waiting
eagerly to meet their relative on the other side. Sometimes it takes so much time that it takes
midnight to reach back home. She has explained the feeling she can finally hug her son and
forget all this for a matter of some time. She is managed her work and work on nights shifts to
overcome the financial problems and cover the costs of the court and legal teams. Working night
shift leads to create many physical and health issue for Victoria but has not other option. She is
7

ashamed of what is happening to her son and hopes that this all will stop when he returns home
(Scambler, 2019). She had to gather much courage to face her family and disclose this big secret
however, they are supporting. She is planning to take her far after all this ends to give him
opportunity to start a new life and work in a restaurant as he works in kitchen within the prison.
It can be seen that overall the people who have their relatives in the prison will suffer from the
feelings of being ashamed and in a place where they are not comfortable their pain with anyone
else. They all are suffering from financial problems with one earning sitting in prison and coving
the legal fees along with the travelling fees to prison for the purpose of visiting relatives.
CONCLUSION
The entire report concludes up on bringing about a good orientation regarding the
appropriate format as well as the logical structure that are a part of research. Through this report
one can easily understand the format as well as the examples that are derived as a part of
qualitative research and analysis that is brought about by epistemological as well as ethical
issues. Through this report one can easily understand the ethical issues as well as the relevant
data that is a part of these issues. There are also things that are being particularly demonstrated as
a part of participants response through the transcript. One may not be able to identify the choices
that are made unless and until the teams as well as the appropriate relevant social sciences are
being interpreted in a most possible approach and therefore these are being highlighted in this
research. The policies that are able to develop analysis are also put forth in this report. An
interpretation is made towards the respondent answers through which one can easily understand
the demonstration and also can be able to present through automatic explanation. The quality that
is maintained by breath and sources are being portrayed in this report. Automatic data analysis
brought about by a theoretical and policy analysis is put forth in this report. With the usage of
quotations conclusions are drawn with regard to the assessment.
8

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alix, and et.al., 2017. Posttraumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation among sexually abused
adolescent girls: The mediating role of shame. Journal of child sexual abuse. 26(2).
pp.158-174.
Berry, E.M., 2020. The obesity pandemic—Whose responsibility? No blame, no shame, not
more of the same. Frontiers in nutrition. 7. p.2.
Ferguson, C.C., 2017. The emotional fallout from the culture of blame and shame. JAMA
pediatrics. 171(12). pp.1141-1141.
Kamruzzaman, M., 2017. Prisoners’ posture on prison: A criminological study. American
Journal of Information Science and Computer Engineering. 3(1). pp.7-13.
Scambler, G., 2018. Heaping blame on shame:‘Weaponising stigma’for neoliberal times. The
Sociological Review. 66(4). pp.766-782.
Scambler, G., 2019. A sociology of shame and blame: Insiders versus outsiders. Springer.
Tannady and et.al, 2018. Service quality analysis of two of the largest retail chains with minimart
concept in Indonesia. Business: Theory and Practice. 19. pp.177-185.
Zahars, V. and Stivrenieks, M., 2018. SECURITY, SURVEILLANCE AND RE-
SOCIALIZATION ASPECTS IN CENTER FOR DRUG ADDICTS OF OLAINE
CITY PRISON IN LATVIA. Journal of Security & Sustainability Issues. 7(4).
Zhao and et.al, 2019, August. Data quality analysis and solutions for distribution-level PMUs. In
2019 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
9