“Doing time” and “waiting”
This article draws on interview-based research among relatives of prisoners and inmates in France. It explores the different ways in which time is experienced inside and outside prison during different phases of incarceration and discusses how this experience relates to other social rhythms, particularly the way in which inmates are encouraged to “make sense” of their sentence or “do their time”, while relatives of prisoners are expected only to wait. I look at the different ways time is experienced (inside and outside prison), which vary depending upon sentence length and time already served. I then describe various forms of incompatibility between time as experienced inside and outside prison and discuss how this affects family relationships. Finally, I analyze how inmates, ex-inmates, and their relatives develop rationalizations to deal with a period of time initially seen as wasted and how these strategies are influenced by sentence length and type of prison.