Inside the Punishment Gap: Participatory Action Research on Prisoners’ Experiences of Rehabilitation and Punishment

• In Event: Control, Punishment and Rehabilitation: Investigating Balanced Justice and Anti-Doping Regulations

Abstract

This paper seeks to enhance understanding of the nexus of punishment and rehabilitation as experienced by prisoners. We present initial findings from a qualitative participatory action research (PAR) study of the effect of expectation on prisoners’ experiences of punishment. This paper extends Sexton’s framework of penal consciousness by examining whether and how prisoners’ experiences of punishment are informed by their prior and current involvement in rehabilitative programming. Data consist of interviews with prisoners incarcerated in two Ohio prisons of varying security levels. We employ an innovative methodology, drawing upon the insight of an advisory council of men incarcerated in a different correctional system to interpret results. Through collaborative, inductive and deductive analysis of transcripts from the 60 interviews alongside the incarcerated Advisory Council, we have arrived at preliminary findings in three main areas: 1) The effect of expectation with regard to rehabilitation, 2) the unintended negative consequences of programming, and 3) the necessity of understanding and moving beyond “group talk” or “program talk” in order to uncover prisoners’ true expectations and experiences vis a vis rehabilitation.

Authors

• Kimberly Richman, University of San Francisco

• Lori Sexton, University of Missouri-Kansas City

• Madeline Warren, Crime and Justice Institute