Alternative forms of parenting: fatherhood and motherhood in prison context

Abstract

Exploring the gendered and socially situated nature of the concept of parenting, this article analyzes, through the narratives of prisoners who are parents, the alternative ways of mothering and fathering in the prison context. The data collected suggest that gender differences and inequalities materialize, before and during imprisonment, in different scenarios of involvement for mothers and fathers with offending paths. They also show how parental ties are reconfigured in a context apart from traditional family configurations and marked by the impacts created by penal control.