Prison Marriage: a Pilot Study

Abstract

As a preliminary research inquiry, the purpose of this study is to provide basic information about prison marriage. The intent is neither to prove nor disprove the value of the marriages. There is no research basis to confirm or deny any hypothesis at the present time; in fact, no published study of prison marriage was located during the course of this research. The present study attempts to substantiate possible motives of the marriage partners, as well as the pros and cons of the marriage. Thus far, the data indicate that prison marriage is not as rare as one might assume. The review of the literature and the survey responses of inmates, spouses, and chaplains, reveal some of the unique aspects of prison marriage. The data derived from this study are intended to assist subsequent researchers attempting broad scale investigations, in addition to providing interested readers with some intriguing discoveries.