Social Networks & Reentry

• Study Description: The Prison Inmate Networks Studies (PINS) are the first longitudinal study of social networks using a global network design in a prison setting. The goal is to combine classic perspectives on inmate social life with modern network science, survey methods, and intensive interviews to better understand how the social conditions of confinement structure inmate health, safety, rehabilitative, and reentry outcomes. Related work examines the reentry experiences of PINS study participants. Our work speaks more broadly to a host of issues critical to criminal justice policy reform in an era of mass incarceration in the United States, including the reproduction of social inequality and the role social networks may play in structuring reentry outcomes (e.g., family integration, employment, health, and recidivism). A recently funded expansion of the PINS model will focus on women's incarceration experiences and includes interviews with children of incarcerated parents and their caregivers.

• Related Publications: On the use of social network analysis in the study of prisons, prisoners, and the reentry process:

  • Kreager, Derek, David Schaefer, Martin Bouchard, Dana Haynie, Sara Wakefield, Jacob Young, and Gary Zajac. 2016. “Toward a Criminology of Inmate Prison Networks.” Justice Quarterly 33, 6: 1000-1028. 

  • Haynie, Dana, Corey Whichard†, Derek Kreager, David Schaefer, and Sara Wakefield. 2019. “Social Networks and Health in a Prison Unit.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 59, 3: 318-344. 

    • Featured Article, JHSB Policy Brief Series. 

  • Whichard, Corey, Sara Wakefield, and Derek A. Kreager. “Collecting Social Network Data in Prison and During Re-Entry: A Field Guide.” Pp. 81-99 in Moving Beyond Recidivism: Expanding Approaches to Research on Prisoner Reentry and Reintegration, edited by A. Leverentz, E. Chen, and J. Christian. New York: NYU Press. 

• Collaborators: Derek Kreager (PI, PSU), Gary Zajac (PSU), Martin Bouchard (SFU), Dana Haynie (OSU), David Schaefer (ASU), Michaela Soyer (Hunter), Jacob Young (ASU), and Corey Whichard (PSU)

Publicly-Available Data

• The Prison Inmate Networks Study (PINS, NSF Award #1457193)

  • Available for download from ICPSR

• The Women's Prison Inmate Networks Study (WO-PINS, Data Release Pending)