Navigating Relationships with Prisoners During the Holidays

 The holidays are always hard for prisoners and for their loved ones. We're separated and unable to connect and celebrate together, whatever that looks like for each family. 

It's a particularly stressful time in prison, when depression and anger often get the best of prisoners. The hole (segregation) fills up quickly and often, and prisoners are more short tempered than normal. Fights and insolent behavior is more common as emotions run high. 

Our families we left on the outside also have to navigate the holidays without us, sometimes plagued by the sadness of separation, and perhaps even (unfairly) by guilt that we cannot enjoy the holidays with them. 

Navigating the complexity of relationships with incarcerated loved ones during the holidays and other special days and events is difficult. Sadness is inevitable, but it doesn't have to dominate, or even worse to come between you and an incarcerated loved one. 

When I wrote Insider's Guide to Prison Life, I did so because navigating relationships with an incarcerated loved one is complicated any time of the year. It is even more so during holidays. I've experienced the prison side of the equation, so I know what it's like in prison. I know what we need, and sadly the way we often sabotage relationships with the very people we love and desperately miss. 

Insider's Guide to Prison Life addresses many of these issues and more. This year, give yourself the gift of learning how to turn the tragedy of incarceration into an opportunity to deepen and enhance your relationship with your incarcerated loved one. 

Insider's Guide to Prison Life is available at Amazon.com in paperback for $14.99 or free on Kindle with an unlimited Kindle membership. https://a.co/d/5UDj4BU Invest in yourself and your relationships this year, or gift it to someone else who has an incarcerated loved one.