Altruistic Prison Programs: A Medium for Transformation

• In Event: Safety and the Consequences of Imprisonment

Abstract

In recent years, correctional programming in the United States has started to focus on the successful re-entry and reintegration of offenders. Though arguably driven by the need to lower the colossal costs of corrections, the need to promote desistance and reduce recidivism appears to be acknowledged by departments of corrections across the United States.
An increasingly popular trend in correctional programming over the last twenty years is that of programs with altruistic or “giving back” elements. These programs include dog training, food bank, and Habitat for Humanity programs. The limited, but growing, literature on these programs suggest that they promote desistance and have a restorative effect, which theorists have suggested can go hand-in-hand. Supporting the potential mechanisms of change suggested by this literature, correctional and desistance theorists have noted avenues transformation embedded in altruistic acts.
This paper will expand on the current literature by specifically connecting the work on desistance and altruism programs. It will examine the theoretical mechanisms underlying how altruism programs can promote desistance, including discussions regarding the restoration of humanity, renewed self-narrative, and of how acts of generativity can promote desistance.

Author

• Barbara Cooke, Texas A & M Univ - Kingsville