Lots of articles online on the subject of women falling for inmates.
More common than I expected.
"there tends to be “this trait of intense mothering in prison wives,” writes Greenwood. “I think these women tend to be very nurturing. They have a sense of wanting to be caring for someone else, and men in prison, for obvious reasons, are quite needy.”
“I’m not marrying Joe’s past,” she told the friend. “I’m marrying the person he’s become.”
“making me the best possible version of myself.”
Why women fall in love with men in jail for terrible crimes
The phenomenon of Hybristophilia
Prison Brides: ‘Hybristophilia’ And Women Who Fall In Love With REALLY Bad Boys
“There are different types of women that could be interested in this type of relationship. There is the very high nurturing type, who feels they can 'save' someone. Then, there is the type who wants someone who is considered tough, rough, and 'manly,' because this gives the illusion that they can protect them. Third, there is the rebellious type who are unhappy and angry and who live a vicarious rebelliousness through this experience.”
Convicted Men and the Women Who Love Them
"Women who fall in love with dangerous criminals are more often than not suffering from depression," Luedke told Deutsche Welle. He said that for some women, it was easier to have a relationship with a dangerous criminal than to deal with their own fate.
Psychologist Luedke says such relationships are doomed to failure
"It's the fascination with the heinous side of human nature," Luedke said. Often, they are full or anger and aggression themselves. They fall in love with men who symbolize what the women themselves can't act on.
To a certain extent, these women believe they can turn the criminal into a better human being, but in the end "it is the women who need the relationship, they are giving the convict what they themselves have lacked most in life: time, affection, love and devotion," Luedke said.
He also noted that such relationships tend only work for as long as the partner is in jail. "As soon as he is out, the relationship faces the same problems the women had before, making a break-up inevitable."
Control and power: why some women fall in love with convicts | DW | 14.04.2010