How to Support Yourself and Your Loved One When They’re in Prison
By Carimé Boehr, Articling Student
When a loved one is incarcerated, it profoundly impacts more than just the person stepping into prison.
In a report based on a 2014 survey prepared at Wilfrid Laurier University, the results revealed that “families with a loved one incarcerated experience more distress on average than the general population.”
Almost two thirds of participants in the survey reported increased anger and irritability since their loved one was arrested.
The participants were also asked to pinpoint challenges they faced. Their chief challenges were: lack of information, inability to access resources and support, financial difficulties, lack of understanding from support persons/community, and feeling a sense of injustice.
How to cope with increased stress on the outside
The Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN) has issued a report on how you can cope with a loved one in jail.
A couple of the tools suggested in the report are:
Support Groups
The CFCN lists all the support groups they’re aware of at www.cfcn-rcafd.org. They also have a resource called the ‘Support Group Guide’ to help those with no group in their area start a group of their own. Of course, you could also try searching for an online group or chat room on your own as well.
Knowledge
Sometimes, stress arises when you don’t know what has happened, or what may happen in the future. For instance, you may need to know more about the crime committed and your loved one’s participation. Or you may also feel you need to know more about the court process or the institutional rules and procedures. The CFCN has a toll-free bilingual telephone line at (888) 371-2326 to answer questions like these. They also offer information at the points of intake, incarceration and reintegration–including resources for children at their site www.cfcn-rcafd.org.
How to help your loved one on the inside
Build a “team” for your loved one
In their materials, the CFCN also discusses organizing a “team” for a loved one in prison from among your church, friends and/or family. You can send out update emails to the “team” about how the incarcerated person is doing, how they can be of encouragement, and so on, to all of those involved in the group so they can support you.
Your “team” can also provide support to you along with your loved one.
Find and use your resources
You may have to do some Internet sleuthing to find all of the available resources in your area. If you’re in the Toronto area, Toronto Incarcerated Network has resources including a Jail Hotline and a Prisoner Emergency Support Fund.
How to Advocate for Your Loved One on the Inside
Advocate for your loved one
You can make a complaint with the Office of the Correctional Investigator or file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission
The community legal clinic in your area may offer human rights legal help or your loved one can call the Jail Hotline mentioned above for their questions about advocacy.
In addition, there may be more resources available to you depending on where you live. For example, at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, there is a Jail Accountability & Information Line that helps callers address human rights issues and re-entry barriers.
In this short blog post, we obviously cannot hope to cover every resource.
We hope that it at least helps to know that there are many people who have walked where you are now, and organizations and initiatives ready to be in your corner.
Sources
Forgotten Victims: The Mental Health and Well-Being of Families Affected by Crime and Incarceration in Canada. Canadian Families and Corrections Network.
Coping Over Time. Canadian Families and Corrections Network.