What is it like for a person after they are incarcerated? How do they feel? What behaviors will come to exist for the prisoner? These are all questions that I raise when it comes to the identity of a person after incarceration. I think prison is designed to rehabilitate, to a certain extent, which may or may not work for each individual. So what is a person’s identity like after they are released back into society?
Like all processes of ongoing change, of course, this one typically occurs in stages. The longer that someone is incarcerated the more considerable the nature of their transformation on the outside may be. When most people first enter prison, of course, they are accustomed to an often harsh and severe institutional routine. That person may be so adapted to a routine that they do not know what to do with their time when they get out of jail/prison. This can lead a person to possibly resort back to crime, which is obviously not the right choice.
Thinking about the overall identity of a person after incarceration I think that it comes down to the idea that they are now known as an ex-con. This can have a huge negative effect on a person, especially through the eyes of employers, and family members. Once somebody has jail time on their record it looks sort of bad as far as job opportunities. Being limited to lower-waged jobs is never a good thing to be facing. Personally, I don’t think many employers at respectable corporations would want a person who has assaulted another human being and received jail time for it. Therefore, this can have more of an effect on the ex-cons family members. If the ex-con has children to support then they need to have a good paying job to support them. I believe that the identity of an ex-con isn’t completely damaged, therefore can be fixed with time.
By Brian Taylor
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