Hustle in Higher Education: How Latinx Students with Conviction Histories Move from Surviving to Thriving in Higher Education

The voices and experiences of formerly incarcerated college students are emerging throughout the social science literature. The importance of documenting their narratives is grounded in the reality that more than an estimated 12,000 system-impacted people are enrolled throughout the California postsecondary education system. This paper highlights the knowledge and skills formerly incarcerated students possess and deploy to navigate higher education successfully. Our study adds to the growing body of literature examining the experiences of formerly incarcerated Latinx students from an anti-deficit perspective. We use the theory of funds of knowledge and semi-structured interviews with 16 formerly incarcerated Latinx students at different points of the postsecondary education pipeline to understand their experiences. We find that formerly incarcerated Latinx students tapped into their “hustle” to move from surviving to thriving in higher education. These pre-college skills, acquired through their life experiences, allow students to seek academic and financial resources, create academic networks, and make personal connections with institutional agents to overcome various personal and institutional barriers.

When Post-Incarcerated Individuals Return to High-Risk Neighborhoods: Staying Out of Trouble, Social Withdrawal, and Mental Health

Studies show that residents from urban, high-risk neighborhoods fair worse on multiple behavioral and health outcomes than their counterparts from more socially and economically advantaged neighborhoods. However, few research efforts have been devoted to examining how formerly incarcerated individuals’ concerns over neighborhood environment are associated with reentry outcomes. Using longitudinal data that captured the reentry experiences of individuals released from prison, the present study quantifies how returning citizens’ concerns over neighborhood environment predict their social withdrawal and mental health deterioration. Findings suggest that when respondents’ post-release family bonds, financial difficulty, drug use, and past mental health histories are all taken into account, their concerns over neighborhood environment exert a significant and positive effect on social withdrawal, depression, and hostility. Returning citizens who believe it is hard to stay out of trouble and prison in their neighborhoods tend to avoid social interactions with others and experience depression and increased hostility and vigilance. Implications for reentry programing and interventions are discussed.

The Effect of Reading Prisoner Poetry on Stigma and Public Attitudes: Results from a Multigroup Survey Experiment

We examine how public attitudes toward currently/formerly incarcerated people and their reentry into society are affected by consuming information about imprisoned people. Over 1,500 respondents from a national online survey were randomly assigned one of five sources of written information about currently and formerly incarcerated people (CFIP) (three informative pieces and two sets of incarceree poetry). They then reported their views toward them and support for reentry policies. While no differences in support for reentry initiatives across conditions were uncovered, those reading poetry with a humanizing theme applied the least amount of stigma toward currently/formerly incarcerated people.

Navigating post-prison life. Social positioning and agency in unstable circumstances

People that are released from prison experience 'life outside' as unpredictable and insecure. They are faced with stigmatization, poverty and feelings of alienation from the 'world outside.' Based on ethnographic research in the field of post-prison life, this paper asks how formerly incarcerated men act and position themselves within and around uncertain circumstances that characterize post-prison life. The paper introduces the concept of 'social navigation' as an epistemological tool for approaching post-prison life ethnographically. In doing so, it shows the potential of the concept of social navigation in understanding actor's social positioning and agency within unstable sociocultural landscapes and within a disrupted sociocultural order.

Social Relationships and Social Engagement Among African American Adults With a History of Incarceration

Strong social relationships and social engagement are crucial for both successful aging and successful community re-entry after incarceration. Here, we utilized a mixed methods approach to understand the impact of incarceration on social relationships and social engagement among formerly incarcerated community-dwelling African-American adults aged >50. Participants in the 2012 or 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study answered questions regarding prior incarceration, social relationships, and participation in social activities. Additionally, we utilized key informant interviews to further explore how incarceration might impact relationships and social engagement. This presentation will describe quantitative associations between prior incarceration and social relationship structure & function. Further, we will use our qualitative interview data to further explore possible explanations for our findings. Finally, we will describe how MCUAAAR Scientist/Faculty interactions facilitated this work.

The effects of language on the stigmatization and exclusion of returning citizens: Results from a survey experiment

Although the use of person-centered language has increased in recent years, its usage remains limited within the field of criminal justice, wherein terms such as ex-offender are frequently used to describe formerly incarcerated individuals. Research suggests that person-centered language matters for public opinion, but prior work has not examined the effect of language on support for the social reintegration of returning citizens. The present research experimentally manipulates the effects of the language used to describe individuals released from incarceration and the race of a hypothetical returning citizen on the following outcomes: negative stereotype endorsement, attitudinal social distance, and support for reintegrative initiatives. I find that person-centered language significantly reduces stigmatization of returning citizens, which ultimately increases support for reintegrative services. These findings suggest that humanizing changes to criminal justice discourse may have the capacity to shift public opinion and create a social context more conducive to reintegration after incarceration.