Untrustworthy subjects? Risks, blame and gradual prison release in Ukraine

Penal authorities and society in general perceive prisoners as untrustworthy. Much of the administration of punishment constitutes the assessment and management of the risks that prisoners pose. In this article, I explain how Ukraine balances the noble goals of prisoner reintegration with an inherent mistrust of prisoners. Drawing on a semi-ethnographic study of a medium-security prison for men, I discuss how, in anticipation of their freedom, prisoners also calculate their perceived risks. Through examination of how prisoners assess their vulnerability to risky behaviour and opt out from gradual release, I argue that prisoners as well as the state often deem themselves untrustworthy subjects. Furthermore, I discuss the roles of the informal prisoner society and (paucity of) prison’s rehabilitative efforts in prisoners’ decisions concerning their transfer into semi-open conditions. I argue that, rather than being an alternative – and even a threat – to parole, gradual release, supported by rehabilitative and developmental programmes, constructive services and temporary leave schemes, should become a path to release, including release on parole. Prisoners and staff alike should not make an unfair and unconstructive choice between ‘less risky’ parole, because of its loose surveillance, and more failure prone (for prisoners) and blame risky (for staff) gradual release.

Criminal Justice Debt During the Prisoner Reintegration Process: Who Has It and How Much?

Much recent, national attention has centered on financial sanctions and associated debt burdens related to criminal justice. Scholars and practitioners alike have argued that financial debt among the incarcerated, in particular, exacerbates a transition home already defined by difficulties. This article takes a step back and assesses who is at risk of these adverse consequences in reentry by examining the extent of debt burdens that resulted from financial sanctions, its sources, and the individual-level factors that are associated with owing criminal justice debt. Relying on the Returning Home data ( N = 740), results from descriptive analyses, logistic regression, and negative binomial models show that a large proportion of respondents owed debts and that debt was strongly linked with being mandated to community supervision. In addition, debt amount was predicted by employment, income, and race. Policy implications in the realm of financial sanctioning by courts and correctional agencies are discussed.

Limited Intersectional Approaches to Veteran and Former Prisoner Reintegration: Examining Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

This paper is published in Sociological Imagination. Citation: Dernberger, Brittany. 2017. “Limited Intersectional Approaches to Veteran and Former Prisoner Reintegration: Examining Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation.” Sociological Imagination 53(1): 100-131. Recent legal and policy changes within two prominent institutions, the military and criminal justice system, have profoundly altered the visibility – and subsequent rights – of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) service members and those currently incarcerated. Comparing these two institutions side-by-side illustrates how LGBT inequality mechanisms operate at both an individual and systemic level. Both the military and criminal justice system are total, hypermasculine institutions, both are socially concentrated experiences, both end with a changed relationship with the state, and both veterans and those formerly incarcerated have comparable challenges to reintegration upon returning to their communities. Intersectional analysis provides an apt tool to critically examine how reintegration processes differ for those identifying as LGBT. I examine ways in which existing literature is intersectional and highlight the lack of analyses about systems of power that amplify or moderate former prisoner re-entry and veteran transition for those identifying as LGBT. Finally, I discuss why there may be a lack of attention to intersectionality, and specifically to LGBT individuals, in the literature and address how an intersectional framework would contribute to both public policy and to expanding the existing literature on social inequality and stratification.

Positioning Analysis of Filipino Family Narratives in the Context of Prisoner Reintegration

Prisoner reintegration may be viewed as a crisis situation that may lead to a period of instability within the family. Existing researches in this area remain focused on the individual perspective of ex-offenders rather than the experiences of receiving families back in their households. In this study, we aim to examine the reintegration experiences of the family as a group from an initial state of chaos to equilibrium upon the reentry of an incarcerated parent. Using a sample of 12 interviews of family members left behind by incarcerated fathers, three major storylines relating to the family’s struggle for moral re-ascendancy in the context of parental reintegration are identified: othering, rehabilitation, and restoration. We explain the interlocking emotional, discursive, and material forms of labor embedded in the process of prisoner reintegration. Policy implications on social and institutional aid to the families of reintegrating fathers are also discussed.

Is this the Dawning of the Age of Surveillance? - Monitoring Offenders in New Zealand

Over the last ten years, the New Zealand criminal justice system has moved inexorably toward embracing policies and legislation which favour offender surveillance over offender reintegration and rehabilitation. This article discusses the recent growth of surveillance legislation in New Zealand, the impact on the traditional norms and values of the criminal justice system, and the wider implications of becoming a “surveillance society.” It argues that the introduction of surveillance has occurred in the absence of any scientific evidence for its effectiveness, that it has harmed our international human rights record, and impeded effective prisoner reintegration. It concludes by putting a case for a more comprehensive and evidence-based approach to prisoner and offender reintegration.

Digital exclusion or learning exclusion? An ethnographic study of adult male distance learners in English prisons

Previous research has highlighted the value of technology to enhance learning. However, digital inclusion research has argued that many issues such as skills, access, usability and choice impact on the effectiveness of technology to enhance learning. The findings in this paper add to the debate by highlighting the importance of value and context. In particular, the value that institutions and individuals place on the role of further and higher distance learning in a prison can affect technology-enhanced learning in that context. This research identified that despite good IT skills and improved technologies, prison learners’ access and use of technology is hampered by conflicting priorities amongst the multiple organisations controlling prisoner activities. This can lead to a prison in which menial work is valued far higher than learning. Technology-enhanced distance learning, perceived by many to be a lifeline in a desolate environment, is heavily restricted in such prisons. The situation is thought to be deteriorating as the number of organisations involved increases and the Government’s plans for ‘‘working’’ prisons gather pace.Keywords: social inclusion; digital inclusion; distance learning; higher education; prisoner reintegration(Published: 19 December 2012)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18620 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18620

Out and Down

Psychiatric disorders are unusually prevalent among current and former inmates, but it is not known what this relationship reflects. A putative causal relationship is contaminated by assorted influences, including childhood disadvantage, the early onset of most disorders, and the criminalization of substance use. Using the National Comorbidity Survey Replication ( N = 5692), we examine the relationship between incarceration and psychiatric disorders after statistically adjusting for multidimensional influences. The results indicate that (1) some of the most common disorders found among former inmates emerge in childhood and adolescence and therefore predate incarceration; (2) the relationships between incarceration and disorders are smaller for current disorders than lifetime disorders, suggesting that the relationship between incarceration and disorders dissipates over time; and (3) early substance disorders anticipate later incarceration and other psychiatric disorders simultaneously, indicating selection. Yet the results also reveal robust and long-lasting relationships between incarceration and certain disorders, which are not inconsequential for being particular. Specifically, incarceration is related to subsequent mood disorders, related to feeling “down,” including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and dysthymia. These disorders, in turn, are strongly related to disability, more strongly than substance abuse disorders and impulse control disorders. Although often neglected as a health consequence of incarceration, mood disorders might explain some of the additional disability former inmates experience following release, elevating their relevance for those interested in prisoner reintegration.