Studying imprisonment from the point of view of the inmates’ relatives allows a new insight into the carceral institution and its boundaries. Indeed, far from concerning only the inmates, incarceration inexorably affects their family circle as a full-fledged social punishment. The prison policy regarding inmates’ family bounds, the propagation of the prison stigma to the relatives, as well as the upheavals faced in their everyday life explain and illustrate the ways in which prison experience and institutional power broaden to include the inmates’ families. The article highlights the subjective boundaries of prisons, whose sovereignty and social impact extend far beyond their walls.