“Work Your Story”: Selective Voluntary Disclosure, Stigma Management, and Narratives of Seeking Employment After Prison

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 1113-1141
Author(s):  
Philip Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Criminal Record ◽  
Stigma Management ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Greater Toronto Area ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Types Of Jobs

Using interviews with forty formerly incarcerated people in the Greater Toronto Area, I explore how criminal record holders describe seeking work. People articulate being driven by a desire to be selective to whom, when, and how they disclose their past criminal record; they simultaneously want to talk about their past, at least to some people, some of the time. Many say they are quite selective in what types of jobs and employers they seek out, and their efforts to secure employment are driven by broader projects of stigma management. In light of these findings, I coin “selective, voluntary disclosure” (SVD) as a new set of policy configurations that aim to facilitate not only employment but also dignity, privacy, and empowerment. SVD is well attuned with what former prisoners describe doing on an everyday basis, and it accords with their goals, aspirations, and rehabilitative self-projects.

The Effects of Neighborhood Context and Residential Mobility on Criminal Persistence and Desistance

2018 ◽  
pp. 514-535
Author(s):  
David S. Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Residential Mobility ◽  
Neighborhood Effects ◽  
Neighborhood Context ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Criminal Offending ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

This chapter describes the relevance of the neighborhood context in the explanation of persistence in and desistance from criminal offending, with a particular focus on the behavior of former prisoners. It first presents facts about the geographic distribution of returning prisoners. Next, the chapter draws upon extant research to examine in what ways the conditions of residential neighborhoods influence persistence and desistance among formerly incarcerated individuals. Similarly, this chapter draws upon theoretical perspectives and corresponding empirical evidence to examine how residential mobility might exert an impact on persistence and desistance. The distinction between these two subjects is that the former focuses on neighborhood effects whereas the latter focuses on individual-level mobility effects. Lastly, the chapter focuses on criminal justice policy and practice, including a discussion of the implications of the lessons learned from research on neighborhood effects and residential mobility for the re-entry and re-integration of formerly incarcerated individuals.

scholarly journals “CHANGE” FRAMES AND THE MOBILIZATION OF SOCIAL CAPITAL FOR FORMERLY INCARCERATED JOB SEEKERS

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 387-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Susan Smith
Keyword(s):  
Job Seekers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Job Matching ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Job Information ◽  
Four Frames ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Second Chance ◽  
Sector Employer

AbstractWhen deciding whether to provide job-matching assistance to formerly incarcerated job seekers, which factors do individuals with job information and influence privilege? Drawing from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 126 ethnoracially diverse jobholders at one large, public sector employer, I show that jobholders’ assistance relied on the cultural frames for action they deployed. Two frames dominated discussion—the second chance frame and the signaling change frame. Through the former, jobholders argued that all individuals were capable of change and entitled to more chances to prove themselves. These jobholders were strongly inclined to help. Through the latter, jobholders either referenced the nature of offenses for which job seekers were punished, a proxy for their ability to change, or they referenced evidence that job seekers had changed, a proxy for former prisoners’ commitment to do better. These jobholders tended to be noncommittal. Two frames were mentioned significantly less often—the rigid structures and the opportunities to assist frames. Neither implicated the former prisoners’ essential attributes but instead identified factors outside of job seekers’ control. A significant minority of jobholders also offered some combination of these four frames. Importantly, ethnoracial background, which informed the extent, nature and quality of jobholders’ experiences with the formerly incarcerated, also shaped which frame or set of frames jobholders deployed.

scholarly journals Ex-convict stigma caused by the social re-adaptation process

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-135
Author(s):  
Anna Halina Fidelus
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Record ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Prison Inmates ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
The Social

Social re-adaptation of people with criminal record and former prison inmates is a complex process conditioned by various factors. This article views the concept of social stigmatisation as both a phenomenon and a process. Individuals with criminal record have always been victims of social labelling irrespective of progressive changes in their behaviour. Labelling attitudes of social surroundings do not contribute to the elimination of criminal identity, but – on the contrary – they consolidate such an identity, thus, complicating construction of a new social- and self-identities. In the context of the solutions presented in the article concerning the problem of the stigmatisation of former prisoners, the society needs to realise the negative consequences of this phenomenon.

scholarly journals Criminal Punishment, Labor Market Outcomes, and Economic Inequality: Devah Pager’s Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Burkhardt
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Labor Market Outcomes ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Criminal Record ◽  
Criminal Punishment ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Former Prisoners

A growing empirical literature examines the role of incarceration in labor market outcomes and economic inequality more broadly. Devah Pager’s book, Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration (2007), offers compelling evidence that employment opportunities for former prisoners--especially black former prisoners--are bleak. I review Pager’s methods and findings, place them in the context of previous work, and discuss the relation of race to a criminal record. I then explore several lines of related research that investigate the increasing reach of criminal punishment into various social realms. One goal of this essay is to draw research on economic inequality into the law and society literature.

Employment after incarceration: managing a socially stigmatized identity

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 564-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kemi Salawu Anazodo ◽  
Rose Ricciardelli ◽  
Christopher Chan
Keyword(s):  
Identity Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Criminal History ◽  
Criminal Record ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Disclosure Decisions ◽  
Incarceration History ◽  
Stigmatized Identity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the social stigmatization of the formerly incarcerated identity and how this affects employment post-release. The authors consider the characteristics of this identity and the identity management strategies that individuals draw from as they navigate employment. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 men at various stages of release from federal institutions in Canada. Participants were actively searching for employment, intending to or would consider searching for employment, or had searched for employment in the past post-incarceration. Participant data were simultaneously collected, coded and analyzed using an inductive approach (Gioia et al., 2012). Findings Formerly incarcerated individuals have a unique awareness of the social stigmatization associated with their criminal record and incarceration history. They are tasked with an intentional choice to disclose or conceal that identity throughout the employment process. Six identity management strategies emerged from their accounts: conditional disclosure, deflection, identity substitution, defying expectations, withdrawal and avoidance strategies. More specifically, distinct implications of criminal record and incarceration history on disclosure decisions were evident. Based on participants’ accounts of their reintegration experiences, four aspects that may inform disclosure decisions include: opportune timing, interpersonal dynamics, criminal history and work ethic. Originality/value The authors explore the formerly incarcerated identity as a socially stigmatized identity and consider how individuals manage this identity within the employment context. The authors identify incarceration history and criminal record as having distinct impacts on experiences of stigma and identity management strategic choice, thus representing the experience of a “double stigma”.

Mechanisms of Familial Influence on Reentry among Formerly Incarcerated Latino Men

Social Work ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Jean-Hee Lee ◽  
Vincent Guilamo-Ramos ◽  
Miguel Muñoz-Laboy ◽  
Kevin Lotz ◽  
Lindsay Bornheimer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Latino Men ◽  
Reentry Programs ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Federal Prisons ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Social Work Practitioners

Abstract In the United States more than 10,000 people are released from state and federal prisons every week and often reenter the communities in which they were arrested. Formerly incarcerated individuals face considerable challenges to securing employment and housing. Subsequently, approximately two-thirds of former prisoners are rearrested within three years of their release. Latino men represent the fastest growing ethnic group of prisoners in the United States with unique cultural and social needs during the reentry process. The present study examined the role of the family in the reentry process through in-depth interviews (N = 16) with formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM). The authors sought to identify familial processes specific to Latino men with potential to affect engagement and participation in reentry programs. Findings suggest that family mechanisms of social control and social support influence FILM’s reentry. Social work practitioners who work with this growing population can engage familial processes to prevent recidivism and promote desistance.

scholarly journals The Garden Collective : a short documentary film

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Wylie
Keyword(s):  
Women Activists ◽  
Documentary Film ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
The Many ◽  
Past Injustices ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated Women ◽  
Insight Into

This paper is written in support of The Garden Collective, a short documentary film exploring the memorialization of the former Prison for Women (P4W) in Kingston, Ontario. The film documents the P4W Memorial Collective, a group of formerly incarcerated women, activists and academics, working to establish a memorial garden to honour the many women who lost their lives inside P4W. The Garden Collective features interviews with the Collective and other former prisoners of P4W to provide insight into prisoners’ experiences and past injustices, as well as call into question the ways in which the prison is currently being remembered and historicized by the surrounding community. This paper begins with a chapter analyzing the historical and political context of P4W, followed by a chapter exploring the content within the film from an abolitionist approach. The final chapter of this paper is dedicated to the film’s methodology, visual techniques and ethical challenges.

The Runaround: Punishment, Welfare, and Poverty Survival after Prison

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M Halushka
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Public Assistance ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Transitional Housing ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Formerly Incarcerated ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Incarcerated Men ◽  
Housing Facilities

AbstractBased on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 45 in-depth interviews with formerly-incarcerated men, this article explores how former prisoners navigate criminal justice and welfare bureaucracies in their daily lives. Formerly-incarcerated men must repeatedly engage with parole, public assistance agencies, transitional housing facilities, and community-based service providers to maintain freedom and access food, shelter, and rehabilitative services. Accessing resources requires the men simultaneously to manage multiple, overlapping entanglements across a fragmented network of bureaucracies. This runaround exacerbates the stress of poverty, breeds distrust of state authorities, and, in some cases, precipitates recidivism. Former prisoners learned how to cope with the runaround by treating systems navigation as a full-time occupation, but these skills did not translate into long-term economic security. Most study participants recurrently cycled between low-wage jobs, transitional housing facilities, and public assistance programs for years after release. This article illustrates the need to theorize prisoner reentry as a process that unfolds across a network of criminal justice and welfare bureaucracies and demonstrates how formerly-incarcerated men experience citizenship not only through coercive encounters with the criminal justice system but also through their simultaneous entanglements with safety-net bureaucracies.

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