Increasingly, research investigates how the imprisonment of those with child care responsibilities may affect children and their outcomes. However, this research is often conducted in high-income, developed countries, with little known about its impact in low-income, least developed countries. This study starts to address this gap by examining if the imprisonment of those with child care responsibilities in Uganda, a low-income least developed country, may affect child poverty, wellbeing, health, diet, and education. Drawing on 76 interviews conducted with 61 adults and 15 children, participants were asked to recount what affect, if any, imprisonment of the child’s caregiver was believed to have on child poverty, health, wellbeing, diet, and education. The findings reveal that imprisonment was believed to have a largely negative effect on these aspects of children’s lives for most children, hindering government efforts to improve child outcomes and tackle key development challenges. Based on these findings, it is argued that our theoretical understanding of imprisonment and its effects may need to be broadened to include how differing socio-economic policy contexts may moderate the impact of imprisonment on child outcomes.

越来越多的研究调查监禁负有儿童照料责任的人可能会如何影响儿童及其结果。然而，这项研究通常在高收入的发达国家进行，对其对低收入、最不发达国家的影响知之甚少。本研究通过检查乌干达这个低收入最不发达国家的儿童保育责任人被监禁是否会影响儿童贫困、福祉、健康、饮食和教育来解决这一差距。通过对 61 名成人和 15 名儿童进行的 76 次访谈，参与者被要求详述据信儿童看护人被监禁对儿童贫困、健康、福祉、饮食和教育有什么影响（如果有的话）。调查结果显示，监禁被认为对大多数儿童的儿童生活的这些方面产生了很大的负面影响，阻碍了政府改善儿童成果和应对关键发展挑战的努力。基于这些发现，有人认为，我们对监禁及其影响的理论理解可能需要扩大，以包括不同的社会经济政策背景如何可以缓和监禁对儿童结果的影响。