Troublemakers, firefighters and safe havens: Lived experiences of staff support for desistance during resettlement

Abstract

Transitions from prison to the community have been portrayed as long-lasting experiences of vulnerability, challenges and deep discomfort. Scholars have also illustrated the pains of imprisonment and release, as well as complex processes of resettlement. Throughout this phase of adaptation or readjustment to new environments, desistance from crime is often an explicit goal for re-entering persons and the Correctional Services. However, similar vulnerabilities, challenges and harm have also been described as accompanying desistance processes following imprisonment. The conditions for desistance support within the Norwegian Correctional Services have recently been portrayed as worrying and demanding. This has been partly related to changes in budgeting, sentencing and execution of punishment; however, it is pertinent to clarify that these changes might also, to some extent, have influenced desistance processes in positive ways. In this context, the Correctional Services have formalized close partnerships with penal voluntary organizations to assist rehabilitation and desistance. Despite extensive international research on desistance support, such assistance during resettlement in Norway has scarcely been touched upon.

Based on this, the aim of this thesis is to provide a broader understanding of how desistance can be supported by probation staff and staff of penal voluntary organizations during resettlement, by asking: 1. What are considered ideal interactions with staff to support desistance processes in the transition from prison to community? 2. How are daily practices of desistance support experienced during resettlement? As the perspectives of people in resettlement, probation staff and staff of penal voluntary organizations on supported desistance during resettlement in Norway have largely been ignored, this thesis builds on their lived experiences of walking through the prison gate or from interacting with those who did. The study is based on 19 individual interviews with 13 resettling persons, using a qualitative, longitudinal design, and five focus group interviews with 17 staff. Participants were recruited from six sites in eastern Norway. Interpretations of the interviews were inspired by various narrative and reflexive thematic approaches.

This study shows that people with lived experience of imprisonment highlight the value of interaction with staff when this is based on recognition, continued relationships and comprehensive approaches. Such supportive relationships are exemplified throughout the whole resettlement process in this research. However, by contrast, misrecognition and fragmentation in encounters with prison employees often caused pain and frustration, while withholding otherwise achievable opportunities for gradual sentence progression. Occasionally, prison staff were perceived as ‘troublemakers’, as these experiences caused trouble and made life more difficult after imprisonment than it had been before.

Moreover, in the later phase of imprisonment, staff in penal voluntary organizations and in probation offices underline the importance of establishing early contact with imprisoned persons. However, this phase often revealed limited contact and poor preparation for transfer or release. Further, the obstacles people face as they approach society outside the prison gate are presented as both expected and unexpected. Barriers often seemed to grow higher outside the walls, and were highly related to pains of anticipated and actual labelling and stigma. A shining example of an ideal facilitation of desistance during and after the transition to the community, from all three perspectives contributing to the study, is illustrated by ‘umbilical cord’ support. This metaphor was emphasized by penal voluntary organization staff to visualize how close relationships allowed them to guide and assist people when they faced hindrances in these phases. Despite similarities in what probation staff and penal voluntary organization staff considered ideal assistance to overcome frustration and obstacles, this research demonstrates differences in how they were able to challenge and support attitudes and actions, and address societal barriers and stigma. Whereas penal voluntary organization staff actively helped in navigating the troubled waters of resettlement, probation staff often expressed dissatisfaction at only being given the possibility to advise people in this context. Probation staff described preparations for release in prison as deficient, which turned their role in meetings with resettling persons into that of ‘facilitator-coordinators’. Additionally, they compared their present work to a kind of firefighting, as practical tasks overshadowed their previous relational work. By practising ‘umbilical cord’ support, through a resource focus and by establishing close, continued relationships, penal voluntary organization staff managed to reduce barriers related to identity change, stigma and navigating the welfare system. These examples provide useful insights into how connections and transitions can be drawn between identity desistance and relational desistance. Furthermore, this thesis presents decisive insights into how unforeseen obstacles which frustrate positive trajectories for desistance also occur after completion of the sentence. It exemplifies how staff can facilitate positive outcomes in these situations, representing stepping stones and safe havens to provide competent and open-minded reflections. Nevertheless, this study has illustrated nuanced manifestations of daily practices that frustrate as well as facilitate desistance. The Probational Services’ interaction and assistance also shows how their resettlement practice seems to have moved away from the ideal support. These findings also suggest that current practice in broader terms is too narrow, fragmented and blurred to reflect the shared ideal.

Based on these findings, I sketch out an ideal perspective on desistance support during resettlement. Here, I advocate that desistance should be supported as a continuous process, from the point when people enter the prison gate to far beyond their transition to society. Moreover, I recommend a broadened definition of and approach to resettlement and an overarching desistance focus throughout this process. I further argue that my list of added pains during and after imprisonment in this thesis pokes holes in the absolute claim of Norwegian penal exceptionalism. However, my findings also convey how macro-structures and attitudes in broader society may help to reduce stigma and support a sense of belonging. This reflects aspects of Norwegian society which could be regarded as exceptional in both absolute and relative terms.