Ex-convict stigma caused by the social re-adaptation process
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.