The french reentry farm: An alternative model of incarceration

• In Event: PWG - Rethinking punishment: Alternatives to traditional incarceration models

Abstract

Incarceration is intuitively and empirically known to be painful and psychologically damaging, and the transition from prisons to freedom is often harsh, arduous, and likely to lead to reincarceration (Yukhnenko et al., 2023). Yet, countries across the world employ mass incarceration, and overpopulated and underfunded jails and prisons continue to proliferate. In this context of harsh penal policy, alternative forms of imprisonment have emerged under a variety of cultural contexts. This paper examines one such model: la ferme de Moyembrie, or “the farm,” a facility conceptually situated somewhere between an open prison and a halfway house. Residents of the farm complete the last year of their sentence at the facility, which is operated by a nonprofit and run primarily by volunteers. Residents are required to remain within the farm’s boundaries, where they live, work, can welcome visitors, and receive extensive support in their transition to freedom. Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic observations, this paper explores the viability and replicability of the farm model. It examines the operational and logistical challenges of running the facility, and the tenor of its relationship with the French prison administration. It questions whether the farm can facilitate the construction and maintenance of meaningful, ‘desistance-promoting’ relationships (Nugent & Schinkel, 2016; Weaver, 2015), and serve as an effective transition space, or ‘portal,’ to the outside world for people who have served long prison sentences. It also examines which elements of the farm model might be replicated to other cultural contexts, and the questions and concerns that should be addressed in doing so.

Author

• May Rose Pascaud, John Jay College, CUNY