The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Qualitative Exploration of Long-Term Incarceration and Posttraumatic Growth

• In Event: Reentry of Populations Post- Long-Term Incarceration

Abstract

Objectives: The study aims to explore how long-term incarceration impacts juvenile lifers’ personal development. Methods: This research draws from life-history interviews with 30 participants who had been sentenced to juvenile life without the possibility of parole and were later released. An iterative coding scheme was used to analyze the transcripts through ATLAS.ti. Results: Participants described the carceral experience as a summation of multiple traumas that, in part, informed positive development. These outcomes are situated within the posttraumatic growth framework that acknowledges both the pain and disorder and the positive development that results from hardship. Participants lamented the lack of prison-based outlets to demonstrate and cultivate their growth over time. Conclusion/Implications: Previous research on carceral experiences and posttraumatic growth paint prison as a lump-sum trauma that can only be grown from upon release. The current study challenges this depiction by identifying the plurality of carceral trauma and the posttraumatic growth process that occurs while in prison. Findings challenge readers to consider the paradox between the human axiom of change over time and long-term incarceration and highlights the need for more nuanced understandings of the psychosocial impacts of long-term incarceration and the potential for positive change amidst adversity.

Authors

• Abigail Henson, Arizona State University

• J.Z. Bennett, University of Cincinnati

• Maria Armienta Ojeda, University of Cincinnati

• Grace Martinez, Arizona State University