'Falling out of the rabbit hole': Former long-term prisoners' negotiation of release, reentry and resettlement

In criminological literature a great deal of attention has been given to prisons and to recidivism but there is a dearth of scholarly work which examines successful post-prison resettlement, particularly of those who have served long periods of incarceration. In this ethnomethodological study, 20 Canadian men who had served over a decade in prison and been released at least 5 years earlier participated in semi-structured interviews. They describe their experiences preparing to exit the prison, their time on parole and the challenges and strategies that they employ to succeed in the their post-carceral lives. Struggle was a prominent theme as the respondents negotiated changing regulatory contexts, were subject to the panoptic gaze and experienced the psychological trauma resulting from their extensive incarceration. These former prisoners dealt with the challenges of finding work as older men with interrupted (or limited) work histories and navigating ever-changing gender roles after years in an almost exclusively male environment. Using a theoretical approach which weaves together symbolic interactionism, governmentality and critical human geography, this research focuses on former long-term prisoners' sense of place, identity and resistance. For this vantage point, it is evident that the spaces inhabited by the men are not just backdrops to their existence but are fully entangled in their experiences. Considering place rather than just space allows the mens experiences with freedom, disaffiliation, vulnerability and security to be examined in a textured and nuanced way not typically found in criminology. Further, the men's experiences with self and public identity are complex and complicated by both their anticipation of stigma and that which they actually experienced. Through their stories it is clear that, despite their struggles, the men were not passive entities upon which power acted but rather, were able to exert agency within relations of power. The findings of this research suggest directions for policy and practice within the penal justice apparatus