“You know how bad the devil wants you back?” Religion and Recovery in the Lives of Formerly Incarcerated Women

• In Event: Women and Prisoner Reentry

Abstract

Since the mid 1970s, women’s incarceration rates have skyrocketed, largely as a result of harsh policing and sentencing policies associated with the War on Drugs. Today, more than 200,000 women are incarcerated in state and federal prisons and local jails throughout the United States. Most of these women have an out-date and upon leaving prison and jail return to disadvantaged communities that provide few resources to assist with “re-entry” to society. The relationship between women’s incarceration and substance use has significant consequences for women’s experiences when returning home from jail and prison. Based on parole and probation stipulations, as well as recovery home rules, managing recovery from substance use is a central focus of women’s re-entry experiences. In this paper, I draw on my research with formerly incarcerated women to examine the interconnection of religion and recovery in women’s re-entry experiences. Based on in-depth qualitative and photo-elicitation interviews with 36 women, I show the pervasiveness of religious teaching and 12-Step logic throughout re-entry services. While women largely welcome this emphasis on religion and recovery, I argue that this focus reinforces an individualistic understanding of women’s incarceration that prioritizes personal transformation over structural critique.

Author

• Cesraéa Rumpf, Fayetteville State University