All That Remains: Intersecting Experiences of Men’s Mental Health and Life After Prison

• In Event: Mental Health and Trauma in a Correctional Context

Abstract

The combination of high prison populations and a high prevalence of mental health issues within such populations entails the likelihood that mental health issues are also likely to be widespread amongst the population of previously imprisoned people now living in the community. Therefore, the intersection of mental health and re-entry, particularly the release and reintegration into the community, seems likely to have wide implications and a far-reaching impact into people’s post-prison lives. However, most research on mental health in criminal justice populations has been undertaken from a medical perspective with a focus on treatment, or from a practitioner perspective with a focus on service delivery and compliance. By conceptualising mental health issues in a way that moves beyond medical diagnoses or a service-focus, this research aims to highlight the importance of acknowledging the complexity of the role of mental health in reintegration post-imprisonment. Based on in-depth qualitative semi-structed interviews with people with experience of imprisonment and mental health distress, I set out provisional findings for understanding how mental health and re-entry interact and how people manage these inter-related challenges in a way that can potentially improve post-prison support and experiences for those who have experienced imprisonment, re-entry, and mental health issues.

Author

• Teresa Brasio-McLaughlin, University of Glasgow