**1. Introduction**

Recent studies point to the increase in women in prison and multiple socio-a ffective, economic, historical and cultural factors that influence the prevalence of female crime. Several investigations on imprisoned women have demonstrated interesting results based on the socio-historical situation of each region, highlighting the importance of the context in understanding the problem (Giacomello 2013; Wol ff and de Moraes 2010; Palma 2011; Salazar 2007). Thus, the processes of criminalization of women are historically and contextually situated (Torres 2008; Almeda 2002), and correspond to the type of relationships that define and re-construct them as social subjects.

Aristizábal and Cubells (2019) argue that women in prison were already imprisoned before entering prison as victims of gender violence, which is generally promoted by their partner (also known as domestic violence). The women arrive in jail escaping from a violent relationship, and in this action of escape they find crime as their only alternative. Therefore, it is considered that there is a clear relationship between being a "victim" and being a "criminal"; a victim of domestic violence and a criminal as the penal system attributes to those who carry out actions contrary to what is established by law and that implies the fulfillment of penalties or sanctions based on the seriousness of the fault in accordance with what is established by the justice system.

For this study, domestic violence is defined as:

"A systematic pattern of abusive behaviors, occurring over a period of time, that may become more frequent and severe and are done for the purpose of control, domination, and/or coercion. Such behaviors may include verbal abuse and threats; physical, psychological and sexual abuse; and destruction of property and pets. The batterer frequently accomplishes the abuses in an

environment of his own creation that ultimately traps the victim in a state of fear, insolation, deprivation, and confusion. Domestic violence episodes are not random acts of violence of incidents of mere loss of temper. Rather, such episodes are part of a complex, continuing pattern of behaviour, of which the violence is but one dynamic" (Shornstein 1997, p. 1)

Other studies carried out with women who have not been in prison indicate that gender violence is strongly related to emotional dependence (Aiquipa 2015; Moreno and Osorio 2013; Echebur úa et al. 2002). De Miguel Calvo (2012, 2016), Chamberlen (2017) and Lagarde (1990), have analyzed the lifestyles of women in prison and have denoted addictions and emotional dependence as factors that describe them.

Aristizábal (2017) also relates the power of a ffective bonds to mobilize women's behavior towards crime and/or withdrawal; among them, the links with the couple are prioritized as the relationship that has the greatest influence in the commission of the crime. As the author mentions, a ffective bonds refer to any process of relationship given between subjects and/or social objects, marked by an emotional charge that attributes its own meanings and that mobilizes the action of the parts (or one of the parts) that relate to each other (Aristizábal 2017). These could also be determined as a space available for gender violence, which can be considered as a type of psychosocial prison in which women find themselves before being captured.

Such a psychosocial prison may correspond to emotional dependency, defined by Momeñe et al. (2017) as a need for continuous affection and continuous and excessive contact with the partner, and that usually the women had greater emotion regulation difficulties with than men. Likewise, other studies indicate that the satisfaction of the relationship of the couple is significantly explained by their emotional dependency, perceptions ofinterpersonal rejection and unrealistic relationship expectations (Kemer et al. 2016), that could be reflect the limitations of a psychosocial prison.

Some authors make a di fference between emotional dependency and codependency. Noriega and Ramos (2002) a ffirm that codependency is a disorder in the area of interpersonal relationships (more often in the couple) that refers to a psychological problem that occurs repetitively in almost everyone who lives with an addicted person (any type of addiction that is usually attributed to alcoholism). Freixa (2000) point out that codependency occurs through a process that progressively increases in parallel to the couple's addiction problem, which fluctuates between stable episodes and despair in the face of the disability of not achieving change in their relationship. Thus, codependent relationships are characterized by self-perceptions, attitudes and unhealthy behaviors that, instead of reducing problems, increase them. Codependent people generally come from dysfunctional families or with some addiction behavior, and therefore in the relationship with their partner they tend to allow such patterns (Woititz 1993).

Other studies denote that codependency is a syndrome that encompasses di fferent symptoms and personality traits, in which the individual is a ffected by having been or by being immersed in a family environment with a long history of addictions (alcohol, drugs, among others), or in stressful environments (Potter-Efron and Potter-Efron 1989). This is related to what was mentioned by Aristizábal and Cubells (2017), referring to the fact that women with criminal histories behavior have histories of mistreatment and/or abuse that have developed throughout their lives and many are involved in addictions that have been gestated from childhood. In this way, it can be said that a person is codependent because they maintain a relationship with a partner who abuses them, violates them in some way or exploits them. Codependent people structure their lives around subjects with some type of addiction, establishing a strong commitment, despite the failures and multiple frustrations that this relationship causes them (Wright and Wright 1991). According to Noriega and Ramos (2002), codependency occurs more frequently in women than in men, this could be considered as a strategy for coping with the crisis, stressful environments and/or situations that make them vulnerable to threat. In the case of men, according to Roehling et al. (1996), conduct disorders turn out to be the coping strategy in the face of their own crises.

So far, there is no known study that has analyzed the codependency in intimate relationships in imprisoned women in depth, much less that has determined whether it establishes any type of relationship with criminal activity. Inviting imprisoned women to dialogue on the topic of discussion can become a narrative strategy that empowers them, as it leads them to think more deeply about their relationships with men and how that led to their imprisonment, contributing to the withdrawal and the assumption of gender equality from their own practices. Therefore, it is necessary to identify whether or not there is a relationship between female crime and codependency in couple relationships and to analyze the forms of production and reproduction of these relationships.

### **2. Materials and Methods**

This qualitative study uses qualitative and quantitative instruments such as the in-depth interview, the focus groups and the psychological test ICOD Test MP92-100 (Noriega 2011), respectively. It is framed within the socio-constructionist (Ibáñez and Jiménez 2001) and gender (Harding 2004; Pujal 2005) perspectives.
