From silence to strength: challenging the stigma of familial imprisonment

Children of prisoners (CoP) and their families experience stigmatisation simply because a family member is imprisoned. The stigma of familial imprisonment compels CoP to keep their family circumstances hidden, which intensifies isolation and restricts access to essential support. Furthermore, the impact of language used to represent CoP, along with media reporting of familial crimes, perpetuates stigmatising narratives and subsequent marginalisation. Despite long-standing recommendations, efforts to enhance provision for CoP in schools across England and Wales have been only partially implemented, resulting in inconsistent and inadequate support. As CoP remain unrecognised as a priority group, policy inaction and stigmatisation risk perpetuating cycles of exclusion. Drawing upon empirical data, this article provides a unique contribution to the academic field using a symbolic interactionist, labelling theory and critical realist framework to examine how targeted strength-based support for CoP can help them to reconstruct stigmatising narratives and mitigate negative outcomes by moving from a position of silence to a position of strength.