ATS3459 Punishment, Power, and Prisons: Post-Release Experiences

This essay examines the extent to which prisoner post-release experiences are reflected in dominant understandings and assumptions about success, drawing upon theoretical concepts such as desistance, reintegration, social marginalization, and recidivism measures. It critiques the assumptions made by correctional practices, programs, and policies, particularly in the context of women's reintegration, referencing the work of Bree Carlton and Marie Segrave. The essay discusses the challenges prisoners face upon release, including socio-economic difficulties and the importance of perceiving oneself differently to avoid re-offending, further exploring Michele Foucault's concept of the carceral archipelago and its implications for punishment and control. It concludes that success-related assumptions often fail to adequately capture the complex realities of prisoner post-release experiences and the challenges of reintegration.

Running Head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
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Author Note

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Introduction
There are a series of assumptions in relation to what makes up successful post-release result
and they mainly relate to institutional, criminological and official practices and disclosures.
Correctional practices, programs and policies have been shaped up by such assumptions.
However there have been a few criticisms which have been directed towards them. The
purpose of this paper is to analyse the question that to what extent are prisoner post-release
experiences reflected in dominant understandings and assumptions about success. The
analysis has been done in the light of various theoretical concepts and knowledge such as
desistance, reintegration, success, social marginalisation, recidivism measures and other
relevant examples. The paper also analyses the question based upon key theories like that of
Michele Foucault – The carceral archipelago to derive a suitable conclusion. The paper
provides an argument that success related assumptions do not adequately reflect prisoner
post-release experiences.
Discussion
As stated by Wallace et al. (2016), it is not a easy job to re integrate a prisoner into the
society either on the part of the agencies who have the role of carrying out these functions or
on the party of the prisoners who attempt to re reintegrated into the society. The post release
experience of a prisoner is vital towards understanding the he or she would depict desistance
or not. As stated by Souza (2015), in the sector of criminology desistance commonly refers to
the cessation of antisocial and offending behaviour. There have been several researches
which have been carried out towards depicting that the prisoner post-release experiences
depends upon what they perceive and assume about success. The agencies also determine
whether a prisoner has been successfully reintegrated into the society or not based in the
assumptions of success. It has been agued by Brunton-Smith, I. and Hopkins (2016), that

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success related assumptions do not adequately reflect prisoner post-release experiences. This
study was related to a situation of the reintegration of women into the society. The paper
made three success related assumptions which included that the imprisonment of women is a
discrete episode; a difference is made by the gender responsive support program and post
release outcomes for women are enhanced by it and one of the useful factors for the purpose
of measuring women post release outcome and success and recidivism.
It can be stated that the first assumption that the paper makes about post release experiences
of a female prisoner is that the phase of imprisonment and release are two different chapters
of a woman’s life. It can be stated that imprisonment can be considered to be a past event in
woman’s life and the release from imprisonment marks the start of a new journey in a
woman’s life (Carlton and Segrave 2016). Therefore, it can be inferred that the process of
integration can be difficult and problematic in many ways. Majority of the women who are
convicted are sentenced to imprisonment several times in their lives, therefore assessing the
experience of imprisonment as a discrete event becomes problematic (Carlton and Segrave
2016). It has been pointed out by several researchers that who have conducted researches in
different nations that since the experiences of imprisonment are often recurring, it is
important to recognize the cumulative effect of each of the periods spent in prison rather than
taking into account each sentence as a discrete episode. The second problem that is associated
with the assumption is that it presumes there is a difference between the imprisonment and
release. It can be assumed that the imprisonment and release of women are different from
institutional intervention and control. It is worth mentioning that the assumption that
imprisonment is somewhat distinct or separate from practices of state intervention which
range from childhood experiences of welfare systems to post imprisonment parole have been
criticized. It has been proposed by Maidment in her Canadian study of released women that
the interconnectedness between post release regulation and support and institutionalization

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must be examined thoroughly. Her research focused on the ways the various forms of control
and intervention are exercised and practised through post-release support agencies and
programs which extend the experience and boundaries of imprisonment.
The second assumption that has been made in this paper about the post release experiences of
women prisoners is that the Gender responsive initiatives are expected to produce better
results for women. The assumption that the gender responsive practices have produced better
post release support system for women for breaking the cycles of serial incarceration has
been contested. As opined by Healy (2017),gender responsive discourse is often referred to
the recognition that offending is deeply embedded in the contexts of lives of women and that
Post release experience of prisoners and post release criminal behaviour
The theory of desistance is a criminological phenomenon that states how criminals and
offenders stop taking involvement in criminal activities. In the literal meaning of the world,
to desist means to refrain or abstain from doing something. The theories of desistance try to
provide explanation of the process by which criminal offenders live free from criminality. It
is worth mentioning that prisoners after being released from conviction face many challenges
which are socio economical in nature. These challenges include meeting the basic needs of
the prisoners such food, shelter, building social connections and reconnecting with their
families and friends. Conventional bonds of the society which include housing, quality of
social relationships and work are greatly influenced. Spending some time in prison is
expected to reduce the chances of the prisoner being involved in criminal activities in future
as assessed from economical deterrence perspective. The rationale behind this is the cost of
the time served in the prison generally deters the prisoner from taking involvement in
criminal activities in future. As suggested by Mears, Cochran and Cullen (2015) prisoners
after their release in the early desistance phase start to think differently about themselves. It is

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important to perceive oneself differently in order to refrain from being involved in criminal
activity and choosing a different way of life. According to Healy (2017), an individual’s
perception of a desired and feared self contributes to the primary motivation for change.
The carceral archipelago by Michele Foucault talks about the Mettray prison colony
and it completes the carceral system of punishment. The colony system of punishment is the
harshest system which aims at the most extreme form of punishment. The prison system is
known for being headed by the chiefs and the deputies at the Mettray prison who were the
guardians of behavior and they aimed at uniform punishment at its harshest degree. The goal
of the prison system was to enhance the punishment regime and also make bodies that are
docile and are open to change and adaptability (German 2015). This Mettray prison system is
a new kind of punishment framework that also gave rise to a new kind of supervision. This
marks the very inception of modern art of punishment that the Mettray Prison system was the
very inception of the series of carceral institution. The punishment system revolved around
confinement of the prisoners and also enhanced judicial punishment and embarked on the
new age punishment system that strikes at the institutionalizing discipline. The method of
punishment of this system is different and the technique followed is innovative because the
prison system has been turned into penitentiary technique which gave out very different
results. The result showed impact on the 19th century delinquents and they were made to
move from the offense system to the established system of norm. The initial power hungry
delinquents were made to submit to the rules and the overall political and societal system
went an overhauling. The Michele Foucault system weaves the thread around punishment and
also forming new ideas that have a societal impact (Brown 2014). This gave rise to a new and
modern system of punishment and also formed the “carceral city”
Inmate recidivism was seen as a measure to make the private prison fall in line with
the already established norms. There was a sudden growth of the private correction system

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and the industry was basing its interest on eliciting interest by comparing the way the state
and the private prisons were functioning (Mitchell et al. 2017). The way to gauge the
performance and the quality of the prison system was to track the behavior and the
performance of the prisoners after they were released from prison. After analyzing the known
covariates, it was revealed that the performance and the behavior of the prisoners post release
depended on the way the reincarcerated inmates were subject to multiples exposure and how
they were made to behave in a comparison group (Entrop and Sattarova 2016). This system is
a back to track the behavior of the prisoners in the future and the impact of the prison system
will have on the future behavior of the criminals. The way to track the success of the
prisoners post their release is to first identify the effects that the prison system has and if they
have chances of re-offending (Schnepel 2018). These measures should be seen as having
negative impact on the possibility of the inmates of recidivism. Therefore, the success rate is
seen as how the prison conditions might have harsh and adverse impact on the prisoners and
how they can cope up with the conditions.
In the context of criminal justice system, the process of reintegration refers to the process of
re entry of the persons who had been prison or incarcerated into the society. The process of
reintegration involves the inclusion of reinstatement of the freedom which had previously not
been enjoyed by the persons when in prison.
Reintegration of prisoners after their release successfully in the society involves two key
aspects: confronting with the victim, which eventually leads to shaming and including people
who care and respect about the offender. Offenders should be able to see their criminal act
beyond their own perspective of the act and take into account the harm or damage such act
has caused to the others. The perspective of the victim about the criminal activity is essential
and invaluable in rejecting the justification of the offender behind committing the crime.

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Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be stated that prisoners after their release face many challenges while
going through the process of reintegration. The post release experience of a prisoner is vital
towards understanding the he or she would depict desistance or not. The theories of
desistance try to provide explanation of the process by which criminal offenders live free
from criminality. There have been several researches which have been carried out towards
depicting that the prisoner post-release experiences depends upon what they perceive and
assume about success. The agencies also determine whether a prisoner has been successfully
reintegrated into the society or not based in the assumptions of success

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Brown, M., 2014. Visual criminology and carceral studies: Counter-images in the carceral
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Entorf, H. and Sattarova, L., 2016. The Analysis of Prison-Prisoner Data Using Cluster-
Sample Econometrics: Prison Conditions and Prisoners' Assessments of the Future.
German, T., 2015. A reflection on using the work of Michel Foucault in Christian educational
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