Offenders returning to the community face a multitude of barriers in the reentry process, including limited resources for mental health treatment, restricted employment opportunities, difficulties with housing, and community stigma. Considering the impact of such barriers, it comes as little surprise that approximately two-thirds of returning citizens are rearrested within three years of release. There are unique, but often unexamined, challenges for offenders returning to rural communities, including lack of transportation, limited access to public or private healthcare, and often extreme poverty. It is also possible that exacerbated barriers to successful treatment and reintegration occur for offenders who have committed specific offenses (i.e., sexual crimes). Treatment providers who work regularly with offenders are familiar with challenges that their clients face, offering unique perspectives from their field of work. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 38 treatment providers in social work, counseling, clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy. Using NVivo 10 software, interview footage was transcribed by trained research assistants. Qualitative data were subjected to a two-stage thematic analysis. Initial themes were identified and then examined for overlap and commonality. Similar themes were then condensed into more distinct themes and subthemes, which were then coded from transcripts. Given the additional barriers for offenders returning to a rural community, the purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore the specific impact of rurality on reentry from the perspective of those providing court-ordered treatment services. This was done via the examination of subthemes that emerged under the general theme of "Rural Needs." Each subtheme will be defined and explored individually, as well as in the general context of rural needs, to provide more in-depth understanding of rural offender reentry. A majority of the research on policy and programming for offenders is based in urban areas; however, translating urban models of care to rural communities is difficult. Implications for the impact of rurality on successful reentry in terms of the criminal justice system and treatment will be discussed.

Thesis advisor: Stephen Pfohl / In the wake of decades of growth in the American prison system, unprecedented numbers of people flow out of penal institutions each year: 750,000 are released from state and federal prison, and 7 million more from local jails. Reentry on this scale creates a host of new policy challenges and important openings for social science research. I study the problems of reentry ethnographically. Based on nine months living in a halfway house for men leaving prison and jail, I examine how the prison experience follows people after they leave, the forces and processes that push people back toward prison, and the strategies of former prisoners confronting often extreme forms of social exclusion. My reentry research doubles as a ground-up account of the American prison boom: a window on the world of a small group of men and women rebuilding their lives under the long shadow of mass incarceration. I present the research in three articles: Reentry within the Carceral: Foucault, Race and Prisoner Reentry uses concepts from Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish to re-frame the way we think about reentry, while also taking account of the deep racial inequalities that stamp the American prison system. I argue that people leaving prison are branded delinquent in a society infused with technologies of surveillance and control. In this context, reentry is best conceptualized not as a move from confinement to freedom, but along a carceral continuum of graded intensity. Further, the racialized features of social control in the United States often leave black and brown bodies in themselves marked delinquent. An individual need not commit a crime or spend time inside to become enclosed in social spaces characterized by exclusion and close surveillance. In the case of many black prisoners, formal processing by police and prisons only intensifies a process already underway, and the experience of reentry is best understood as a particular moment in long-term process that begins before imprisonment. The Social Logic of Recidivism: Cultural Capital from Prison to the Street develops a conceptual framework for explaining the cycles of incarceration that so often enveloped the lives of participants. I argue that the growth of incarceration, concentrated geographically along race and class lines, establishes the structural context in which the choice to enter street culture makes sense for large numbers of former prisoners. In high incarceration neighborhoods where street culture is predominant, large-scale movements in and out of prison create networks of relationships that traverse and blur carceral boundaries. Prison and street cultures become partially fused – at different times they are populated by many of the same people - and because of this overlap, the skills and knowledges people learn while incarcerated are also valuable in the street. That is, incarceration involves an accumulation of cultural capital that increases the potential rewards of street crime. Rather than providing roads toward a new life, incarceration creates a structure of constraints and opportunities that pushes people back toward the street. Free But Still Walking the Yard: Prisonization and the Problems of Reentry examines the deep and lasting changes that people carry with them after leaving prison. I argue that prisonization transforms the habitus, as penal institutions are deposited within individuals as lasting dispositions, motor schemes and bodily automatisms. This prisonization of the habitus can be observed in the everyday practices of former prisoners: the experience of physical space, the rituals of cleaning and bodily care, and the practices of consuming food. While some of these habits and dispositions may seem innocuous, they express an underlying adaptation of the convict body to the rules and rhythms of prison life that can have powerfully disruptive effects during reentry: creating feelings of stress and anxiety, making it difficult to function in routine social situations, amplifying exclusion from the labor market and other institutions, and encouraging return to street cultures shared with other former prisoners. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

abstract: People who participate in correctional treatment programming are viewed as making positive steps towards their reentry into society. However, this is often assessed through a simple “yes” or “no” response to whether they are currently participating without much emphasis on how, why, or to what degree that participation is meaningful for reentry preparedness. The present study aims to a) identify to what extent there is variation in the degree to which women participate in programming and are prepared for reentry, b) identify the characteristics that distinguish highly-involved programmers from less involved programmers, c) identify the characteristics that distinguish women who are highly-prepared for reentry from women who are less prepared, and d) assess whether levels of involvement in programming relates to levels of reentry preparedness. The sample comes from interviewer-proctored surveys of 200 incarcerated women in Arizona. Two indices were created: one for the primary independent variable of program involvement and one for the dependent variable of reentry preparedness. Logistic and multivariate regressions were run to determine the indices’ relatedness to each other and the characteristic variables. The two indices did not have a statistically significant relationship with each other. However, variation across them is found. This indicates that programmers may not be a homogenous group and that they may engage with programming to varying degrees based on a multitude of indicators. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2020

The reentry process post incarceration has been identified to be difficult in the most ideal of situations and family support has been shown to be nearly essential to avoid re-incarceration (Bahr, Armstrong, Gibbs, Harris and Fisher, 2005; Visher and Travis, 2003). This study is a first attempt to delve into the nature of relationships between women in Appalachia specifically, and their male relative who is a formerly incarcerated person. Informed by an intersectional feminist framework and symbolic interactionism, this study interviews eight women who reported maintaining a relationship with a male relative who had been incarcerated and reported assisting in his reentry process, in effort to extract the essence of daily lived experience in the context of multiple identities and social locations. A feminist phenomenological approach based on Husserl's philosophy and van Manen's method was utilized, whereby the researcher employed bracketing prior to further data investigation and analysis, in attempt to distill the distinct experiences of these unheard women. Key findings included two prominent themes, and one overall essence of the lived experience of women interviewed. The essence of women's lived experience in Appalachia within the context of reentry is that family is everything, and exists at the center and above all else. Subsumed within this lived experience were the themes of family traditions, or how things are done in Appalachia, and the meaning of incarceration to these women. / Doctor of Philosophy / The reentry process post incarceration has been identified to be difficult in the most ideal of situations and family support has been shown to be nearly essential to avoid re-incarceration (Bahr et al., 2005; Visher & Travis, 2003). This study is a first attempt to delve into the nature of relationships between women in Appalachia specifically, and their male relative who is a formerly incarcerated person. Informed by feminist and family theories, this study interviews eight women who reported maintaining a relationship with a male relative who had been incarcerated and reported assisting in his reentry process, in effort to identify the essence of daily lived experience in the context of multiple identities and social locations. Essential to the analytic process was identification of how the researcher’s identities may intersect with the research process and participants themselves. Key findings included two prominent themes, and one overall essence of the lived experience of women interviewed. The essence of women’s lived experience in Appalachia within the context of reentry is that family is everything, and exists at the center and above all else. Subsumed within this lived experience were the themes of family traditions, or how things are done in Appalachia, and the meaning of incarceration to these women.

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Background: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disproportionately affects certain populations, specifically those passing through correctional facilities. It is estimated that about 1.4% of the approximately two million people residing in correctional facilities are living with HIV. Although the health services offered in correctional facilities are limited, health status may improve substantially for individuals during their placement. Often this progress is lost once a person is released back into the community. Lack of access to care and/or financial assistance inhibits the ability to make health a priority, especially when individuals are faced with the struggle to obtain basic needs such as food, shelter, housing, and employment. This population also bears an unequal burden of non-HIV health conditions. Of those individuals currently incarcerated in the state of Georgia, 1.6% are HIV positive, 26% suffer from chronic illness, 52% have mental health issues, and 25% have reported using drugs or alcohol. In an effort to provide support for this population, Georgia State University partnered with Georgia Department of Corrections Pre-Release Planning Program (PRPP) to establish the Community Connections (CC) Program in 2009. CC program was designed to connect participants with resources that assist with successful reintegration into the community. Exit interviews were conducted with individuals after their participation, and were used to gather information about post-release challenges and outcomes associated with the CC Program. This qualitative study used these interviews to analyze the specific health-related challenges experienced by CC participants. The results from this analysis were used to provide recommendations for further improvements that address the needs of former inmates living with HIV at the policy level. Methods: This study analyzed a set of 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with individuals that participated in the post-release CC program during 2010 to 2012. These participants were recruited via convenience sampling, and informed consent was obtained prior to each interview. Interview questions were focused around topics pertaining to housing, employment, risk behaviors, sexual activity, social interactions, HIV care, mental health, substance abuse, and access to medication or treatment. A modified grounded theory approach was used in the analysis. Interviews were openly coded for words and phrases that pertained to health status. The results were used to determine the most pressing health-related challenges associated with this population, and to provide recommendations at the policy level for addressing such issues. Results: Commonly reported co-occurring conditions from this study were as follows: high blood pressure, epilepsy, high cholesterol, anemia, insomnia, arrhythmia, migraines, kidney disease, neuropathy, blood clots, and diabetes. Depression was the most frequently reported mental illness, followed by bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Over half of participants reported using drugs or alcohol before, during, or following incarceration. Additional barriers to maintaining positive health outcomes included lack of medical insurance or financial assistance, the need for oral health care, and frequent hospitalization. Conclusions: Findings illustrate the need for policy-level changes that specifically address post-release challenges for former inmates, and aim to improve health-related outcomes for this population. Linking this population to services that provide basic needs such as housing and employment would enable them to focus on maintaining their health status. Further, linking this population to insurance or other forms of financial assistance immediately following release is crucial to avoiding gaps in healthcare and treatment relapse. In the state of Georgia, expanding Medicaid to make former inmates eligible would provide a major source of relief for some of these issues. Policy-level changes will not only benefit the individual, but the community as a whole by improving overall health outcomes, reducing the spread of diseases, preventing the occurrence of relapse, and reducing the likelihood of recidivism attributable to illness.

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Thesis (MScIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.