Love and Care "on the Distance": Young Women in the Networks of the Prisoners’ Support

Abstract

This article focuses on the activities of young women who seek contact with imprisoned men via the Internet or telephone and subsequently developlong-term relationships and/or join female support networks for prisoners. Academic interest in this category emerges as rather unusual puzzle: choosing to date prisoners can appear to be a some what "exotic" choice of mate, especially given the variety of options on offer to these young women on the outside. In the article the life stories of young women are explored and the specific details of current prison studies in Russia, which are very much under developed, are discussed. The focus on "distant wives" and their communication, the waiting regimes and care practices can contribute to current debates on the production of female identity in conditions where everyday life is totally transformed. This question is underestimated and "invisible" both in gender studies, and also in more narrow studies of the specific practices of intimacy in the near/semi/criminal world. The paper is based on empirical sociological research on female support networks forprisoners.