Caregiver views on father-child contact in prison during the COVID-19 pandemic: implications for the use of video visits

It is generally understood that visits to see incarcerated family members are good for children, families and those in prison. Much research has focused on the impact of prison visits on children and incarcerated mothers, ‘parents’ as a generic group or barriers to contact, while less attention has been paid to the effect of prison visits on incarcerated fathers. When COVID-19 spread across the globe in early 2020, prisons restricted in-person visits. In Australia, alternative forms of communication between prisoners and their families were utilised, including phone calls and video visits. Drawing on data from an online survey of caregivers of children with a family member in prison (n = 84), this paper specifically focuses on a sub-sample, reporting on imprisoned fathers (n = 70), describing and evaluating experiences with video visits. Most respondents reported that the father was not coping well with the lack of face-to-face contact, and almost two-thirds of respondents reported problems with keeping in contact after in-person visits were suspended. However, a small cohort of fathers were found to be coping well. These findings are explored, highlighting barriers to technology-facilitated visits, and point to a range of issues that need to be addressed for such visits to be beneficial.