Social isolation and inmate behavior: A conceptual framework for theorizing prison visitation and guiding and assessing research

•Visitation may affect inmate behavior and influence prison order and prisoner reentry.•Prior research has not systematically examined visitation heterogeneity or its effects.•Visitation heterogeneity can be characterized along five dimensions.•This heterogeneity may affect whether visitation is beneficial or detrimental.

PurposeScholarship suggests that prison visitation is important because it allows inmates access to social ties that, in turn, can offset social isolation and help inmates cope with the transition back into society upon release. Only a small number of empirical assessments of visitation exist, however, and existing studies have typically overlooked how the heterogeneity inherent in visitation may influence whether visitation is beneficial, harmful, or has no effect. The goal of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for theorizing this heterogeneity and its impacts, evaluating visitation research, and guiding future research aimed at estimating visitation effects.MethodsThe paper reviews theory and research on inmate visitation. In so doing, it systematically examines heterogeneity in visitation and the implications of this heterogeneity.ResultsThe paper identifies five dimensions—visitation timing, longitudinal patterns in visitation, visitor type, visitation experiences, and inmate characteristics—that can be used to characterize visitation events or patterns that, themselves, may have varied effects on in-prison outcomes and reentry outcomes.ConclusionsMore nuanced theories of, and empirical research on, inmate visitation are needed both to understand better the implications of visitation, and inmate social ties more broadly, and to advance theory, research, and policy.