We All Do the Time
Who Cares for Incarcerated Women and Why It Matters
Published on 6. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-4798-1588-3 (ISBN)
Description
Breaks new ground by showing how women in prison and their families interact through prison boundaries
Although women make up only 7% of the overall prison population in the US, their numbers are rising faster than men's, and yet little research has been done on their lives behind bars. In We All Do the Time, Holly Foster-Talbot focuses on how incarcerated women maintain connections to their families and communities while inside prison, and shows how these connections foster positive emotions and feelings of belonging with broader society, in line with re-integrative and rehabilitative ideals. She argues that generating inclusive emotions is a vital part of how imprisoned women and their families cope with and survive imprisonment.
Focusing on the experiences of over 300 women in minimum-security federal prison, Foster-Talbot demonstrates that women and their families navigate the prison-family interface through two key mechanisms: women's intersectionally linked lives and their intergenerationally linked lives. Among core findings is that Latina and Black women suffer worse self-rated mental health in prison than white women, despite having more supportive family ties. If not for these ties, women's racial and ethnic health disparities in prison would be even greater than they already are. This book also shows how the families and communities hit hardest by mass incarceration are also more heavily affected by resultant caring-related absences when women are incarcerated. Ultimately, Foster-Talbot argues that understanding these important connections behind bars are vital for prison programming and policy.
Although women make up only 7% of the overall prison population in the US, their numbers are rising faster than men's, and yet little research has been done on their lives behind bars. In We All Do the Time, Holly Foster-Talbot focuses on how incarcerated women maintain connections to their families and communities while inside prison, and shows how these connections foster positive emotions and feelings of belonging with broader society, in line with re-integrative and rehabilitative ideals. She argues that generating inclusive emotions is a vital part of how imprisoned women and their families cope with and survive imprisonment.
Focusing on the experiences of over 300 women in minimum-security federal prison, Foster-Talbot demonstrates that women and their families navigate the prison-family interface through two key mechanisms: women's intersectionally linked lives and their intergenerationally linked lives. Among core findings is that Latina and Black women suffer worse self-rated mental health in prison than white women, despite having more supportive family ties. If not for these ties, women's racial and ethnic health disparities in prison would be even greater than they already are. This book also shows how the families and communities hit hardest by mass incarceration are also more heavily affected by resultant caring-related absences when women are incarcerated. Ultimately, Foster-Talbot argues that understanding these important connections behind bars are vital for prison programming and policy.
Reviews / Votes
"In We All Do the Time, Holly Foster-Talbot sheds crucial light on a central paradox of women's imprisonment: though women make up a smaller share of the incarcerated population, their confinement - particularly that of mothers - has far-reaching consequences for families and communities. Drawing on richly detailed case studies, Foster reveals how the often unseen labor of mothering behind bars deepens marginalization and strains the mostly female kin who shoulder caregiving on the outside. Both empirically rigorous and deeply humane, this book makes a persuasive case for policies that reduce women's social exclusion, confront racial and ethnic mental health disparities, and strengthen support for all women caring for children - inside and beyond prison walls." - Joyce A. Arditti, author of Parental Incarceration and the Family: Psychological and Social Effects of Imprisonment on Children, Parents, and Caregivers"We All Do the Time uncovers how incarcerated women struggle to sustain family connections within what Foster calls the family-prison interface, a system where exclusion, care, and emotional labor continually flow across prison walls. Through vivid qualitative narratives and rigorous quantitative analysis, Foster introduces the concepts of intersectionally and intergenerationally linked lives, revealing how race, gender, and social connections with family (including family-like friends) on the outside shape incarcerated women's well-being. Exposing the invisible care work families perform and the weathering effects of imprisonment, this compelling study invites readers to reimagine how we understand, value, and support the lives of incarcerated women and their loved ones." - Vera Lopez, co-editor of Latinas in the Criminal Justice System: Victims, Targets, and Offenders
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
36 b/w images, 16 tables
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
470 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4798-1588-3 (9781479815883)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2026
NYU Press
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Holly Foster-Talbot is Professor of Sociology & Chancellor EDGES Fellow at Texas A&M University. She is a Research Affiliated Scholar at the American Bar Foundation.