ABSTRACT
This chapter will entail the lived realities and experiences of women married to incarcerated husbands in India. Following a brief introduction on prisoners’ families and spouses specifically as a forgotten focus in criminal justice research in India, the chapter will emphasise the role of multiple identities that intersect and jointly impact women’s experiences. The chapter will try to make a case for an intersectional analysis, to understand the experiences of spouses of incarcerated prisoners within the matrix of inequalities shaped by caste, class and family in India. The marginalisation of women’s interests in the social and justice system becomes entangled with those social identities. This intersectionality mirrors contemporary society that cannot simply be dismissed. In the second half of the chapter, an overview on the need for a Global South perspective from India will be provided depicting the cultural factors that affect the spouses of incarcerated husbands so that their stories do not get drawn up in the generalised narrative. While there is undeniably more research to be done, this chapter will summarise the interplay of caste, gender and family system to focus on the cultural peculiarities that exist within India.
