The Pragmatic and Social Dimensions of Public Transportation in the Lives of Formerly Incarcerated People

• In Event: Communities and Place: Spatial Networks and Crime - Risk Transmission and Guardianship in a Mobile World

Abstract

Public transportation is a social good that allows people to travel to jobs, services, and friends/family. In addition to expanding travel destinations, it can also serve as a social location in itself, in which people can form (fleeting and longer term) relationships with fellow riders. This paper explores the pragmatic and social functions of public transportation for people who were recently released from incarceration in the Boston area. It is based on repeated interviews with 64 men and women released from a county-level facility in Boston. Interviews covered a wide range of topics related to their pre- and post-incarceration lives, and while few questions directly asked about public transportation, it came up frequently as a significant factor in their lives. People used public transportation to travel to work, services, and families. While doing so, they learned information (e.g., how to access services) from fellow riders, they reconnected with or met friends or romantic partners. Public transportation was also a site of surveillance, and so shaped their willingness to access it. It also put oneself into contact with both desirable and undesirable others. While this paper focuses on formerly incarcerated people, many of the key dimensions apply to any lower income population.

Author

• Andrea Leverentz, North Carolina State University