Neighborhoods and Activity Spaces of Returning Prisoners

• In Event: 478 - Section on Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Paper Session. Criminal Justice Contact and Inequality

Abstract

Neighborhood and place are key concerns in prisoner reentry and desistance literature. Residential change may serve as a turning point for those who want to desist from offending or minimize visibility as a “known” offender by law enforcement and neighbors. Yet choices of where to live are often dictated more by limited housing options than by preferred neighborhood characteristics. Much of our research relies on residential neighborhood, rather than looking at how people actually use and move about space. This paper draws on repeated interviews with men and women returning to the community from a county correctional facility in Boston. The analysis focuses on how returning prisoners navigate place and space as they attempt to reenter society and desist from offending. Many are unstably housed upon release, move frequently, and often face behaviors (like drug use) that they would like to avoid in their homes, shelters, or programs. They rely on public transit and walking to get around, which exposes them to social networks, information, temptations, and surveillance. While some have very small activity spaces, largely traversed on foot, others move about large sections of the region, as they move and go about daily travel for work, programs and services, and supervision. I discuss the implications of these patterns for their reentry and desistance efforts.

Author

• Andrea M. Leverentz, University of Massachusetts Boston