Unpacking the ‘Black Box’ of Prison Life and its Importance for Reentry Outcomes

• In Event: Prisoner Reentry: Trends and Desistance

Abstract

While a large body of prisoner reentry literature exists, an offender’s experiences within the walls of the prison have remained a ‘black box’ within the broader prisoner reintegration literature. For the most part the offender’s prison life has been omitted from contextual considerations of the development and persistence of criminality. Claims have been made that imprisonment is criminogenic, yet little empirical evidence sheds light on the mechanisms of prison life that may be linked to reoffending outcomes. Using self-report data from a large cohort of Australian prisoners combined with administrative reports, this study explores whether prison life experiences protect or increase a prisoner’s risk of reincarceration. Furthermore, given that a high proportion of prisoners return to prison for a parole breach, we also identify the predictors of being reincarcerated for a new offence versus a parole breach for those prisoners who were reincarcerated.

Author

• Nicole R Ryan, Griffith Criminology Institute/ Griffith University