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The ex‐prisoner population is an under‐researched, socially excluded group, whose broad health needs are seldom assessed and often unmet. This qualitative study aims to identify the broad health needs of ex‐prisoners living in an urban borough in the NorthWest of England. We interviewed 27 exprisoners and 14 of the service providers who work with them, from all the resettlement pathways. We asked them about the resettlement experience and how it impacts on ex‐prisoners’ health, what broad health concerns ex‐prisoners have, and how these could be rectified or improved. This study contributes detail from the perspective of ex‐prisoners themselves, and the workers who know their needs best. We have been able to demonstrate that the transition from prison to community is often a health depleting experience, particularly when accommodation has not been adequately arranged. We have found that whilst ex‐prisoners doubtless suffer very poor health they do not often prioritise their own health. However, the majority of ex‐prisoners clearly suffer particularly from mental health and substance misuse problems. Much can be done to tackle these issues by improving communication and partnership working between key stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of prison experience in ex-political prisoners in Northern Ireland in the context of changing and conflicting master narratives.

A series of nine interviews were conducted with Loyalist and Republican political ex-prisoners in Northern Ireland. Eight were male and one was female. All had been in prison for substantial sentences relating to the Troubles.

This study highlighted the challenges faced by political ex-prisoners regarding the changing conflicting master narratives in Northern Ireland and identified how they deal with these challenges. The participants adapted to post-conflict society by attempting to understand and make sense of their experiences, including justifying their actions as appropriate for the era and identifying positive changes in society resulting from the conflict.

A narrative approach can be beneficial for understanding the experiences of political ex-prisoners. It enables a theoretical perspective to look not only at the personal but also at social elements of why people behave as they do. The findings demonstrate that political ex-prisoners do have different experiences to non-political ex-prisoners. The sample size was small and was drawn from a specific group of political ex-prisoners who were actively seeking reconciliation. The findings may be different for other groups.

A narrative approach can help the practitioner understand the context in which a person lives; ex-political prisoners may be very different from ordinary ex-prisoners because of the context in which they were imprisoned and the reasons for which they were imprisoned. They are likely to continue with the narrative of the conflict they fought in and may still have the same aims (e.g. Northern Ireland to become part of Ireland), though they may or may not believe in the same means. These are issues that should be discussed and elaborated when working with ex-political prisoners.

The master narratives active in the society into which the political ex-prisoner is released may impact the success or otherwise of their re-integration into society.

Understanding the role of conflicting master narratives in dealing with the implications of being an ex-political prisoner.

This paper proposes a framework to better understand ex‐prisoner health, and pilot‐tests the framework using qualitative interviews with ten people who have been out of prison for two years or more. The proposed framework considers different stages of re‐entry (from pre‐incarceration through to post‐release), individual and structural factors influencing health, and health outcomes.

The authors conducted qualitative, open‐ended interviews with ex‐prisoners released from prison two or more years ago, who could be considered to have transitioned “successfully” out of prison. The aim of the interviews was to generate insights into the strategies that ex‐prisoners use to negotiate the post‐release period.

Most of the themes that emerged from interviews were consistent with the proposed framework. Structural factors are important concerns for ex‐prisoners that may have to be resolved before other issues, such as drug addiction, can be addressed. However, these findings suggest that it is inappropriate to view health‐related experiences during re‐entry as homogenous, given the diversity of individual characteristics and backgrounds among ex‐prisoners, notably including pre‐incarceration social status.

To explain the health‐related experiences of people following their release from prison, we need to think beyond reintegration and move beyond homogenous notions of the ex‐prisoner population. Addressing sociocultural, demographic and incarceration‐specific factors that ameliorate or intensify the challenges faced by ex‐prisoners is of critical importance.

The purpose of this paper is to examining and analyzing the predictors of criminal recidivism among the ex-prisoners in metropolitan Kano-Nigeria using social ostracism as a predictor. However, the study utilizes two main dimensions of social ostracism; being ignored and being excluded in analyzing criminal recidivism.

This study is quantitative in nature. Data were collected using survey method. Purposive sampling method was used and the population of the study were the ex-prisoners who are released after their prison terms. A total of 256 sample size was utilized and data were analyzed using Partial Lease Squares – Structural Equation Modeling.

The findings revealed that, there is significant positive relationship between ignoring and exclusion of ex-prisoners in relation to criminal recidivism ( < 0.001***). The model used in the study shows that being ignored is having small effects, whereas being excluded is having medium effects (f2 0.121, 0.203), with predictive relevance (Q2 0.1884).

Going by the study findings it was concluded that social ostracism of ex-prisoners in metropolitan Kano is having positive effects toward criminal recidivism. It is recommended that policy should be made to reduce the exclusion of ex-prisoners so as to reduce their chances of becoming criminal recidivists.

Though many predictors were used in analyzing recidivism, this study used social ostracism which is not previously used as a sole predictor of criminal recidivism.

Over 600,000 people are released from federal and state prisons each year, up from about 160,000 in 1980. As such, the reentry literature is framed around these individuals and the personal barriers to reintegration they face. Less work, however, explicitly investigates the role reentry professionals and organizations play in actively shaping the reentry terrain. Using ethnographic observations, document analysis, and interviews with both criminal justice professionals and ex-prisoners, this chapter examines how an organizational field constructs reentry as a racially colorblind process. Although race and racism shape criminal justice, labor market, and other institutional experiences, I find that the positioning of reentry as meritocracy operates to both explain and justify the inequalities experienced by ex-prisoners.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the research within the area of employment for ex-prisoners who have a Serious Mental Illness (SMI).

A review of the literature examining the employment of ex-offenders who have a SMI whilst also presenting a possible novel solution.

The research highlights a distinct lack of employment opportunities and numerous barriers for offenders with research often failing to distinguish between those who have mental health difficulties. However, early findings suggest that Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approaches can generate competitive employment for this population.

Offenders with a SMI are often routinely excluded from vocational services due to their mental health. This review has indicated that the way in which such offenders are treated in prison and reintegrated into the community needs to be addressed.

By tackling this issue not only could the mental health and quality of life of ex-offenders be improved through sustained employment, but the marked economic costs to society that unemployment and recidivism encompasses could also be alleviated.

This review not only suggests a possible solution to the problems faced by offenders with mental health difficulties in gaining employment, but also presents a novel approach to future research that extends to outlining causal explanations for what works for whom.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of offence type, prior imprisonment and various socio-demographic characteristics on mortality at 28 and 365 days following prison release.

Using whole-population linked, routinely collected administrative state-based imprisonment and mortality data, the authors conducted a retrospective study of 12,677 offenders released from Western Australian prisons in the period 1994-2003. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine the association between mortality at 28 and 365 days post-release and offence type, prior imprisonment, and a range of socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, social disadvantage and Indigenous status).

Overall, 135 (1.1 per cent) died during the 365 days follow-up period, of these, 17.8 per cent (n=24) died within the first 28 days (four weeks) of their index release. Ex-prisoners who had committed drug-related offences had significantly higher risk of 28-day post-release mortality (HR=28.4; 95 per cent CI: 1.3-615.3, p=0.033), than those who had committed violent (non-sexual) offences. A significant association was also found between the number of previous incarcerations and post-release mortality at 28 days post-release, with three prior prison terms carrying the highest mortality risk (HR=73.8; 95 per cent CI: 1.8-3,092.5, p=0.024). No association between mortality and either offence type or prior imprisonment was seen at 365 days post-release.

Post-release mortality at 28 days was significantly associated with offence type (with drug-related offences carrying the greatest risk) and with prior imprisonment, but associations did not persist to 365 days after release. Targeting of short-term transitional programmes to reduce preventable deaths after return to the community could be tailored to these high-risk ex-prisoners.

The aim of the paper is to examine the contribution made by housing‐related third sector organisations (TSOs) in assisting ex‐prisoners to find housing, and the barriers they face in doing so.

An offender survey was used to measure awareness of and engagement with TSOs in eight prisons, alongside qualitative interviews with prisoners, criminal justice staff and TSO representatives.

Despite the involvement of TSOs, securing accommodation for ex‐prisoners remains complex and difficult, largely due to high service demand, housing shortages, budget cuts, and needs assessment and allocations systems which reduce the responsiveness of housing providers to the reducing re‐offending agenda.

The research benefited from a mixed‐method approach which captured the perceptions of service users and professionals. The response rate for the offender survey was low (12 per cent), and the survey findings should be treated with caution.

Local authorities and other housing providers need to be more willing to accept ex‐prisoners as potential service users, and better links need to be made between local homelessness strategies, choice based lettings systems and prisoner resettlement programmes. Providing support services to ex‐offenders may encourage such acceptance and help to maintain the motivation to desist from crime.

Previous research has paid little specific attention to the role of TSOs in (ex)offender housing. This paper addresses this omission by drawing on original empirical research to examine the value of their work in securing accommodation for ex‐prisoners and helping to reduce re‐offending.

This chapter reviews a recent study that explores the perception of adult convicted prisoners and ex-prisoners in Sri Lanka regarding their use of prison libraries. How prison officials, particularly rehabilitation officers and counselors see the presence of a prison library in the rehabilitative process is also examined. This chapter focuses mainly on the perceptions, feelings and emotions associated with using the prison library by Sri Lankan prisoners and ex-prisoners during their incarceration.

Information poverty is often common among prisoners as most are illiterate and are deprived of freedom due to their imprisonment. The role of a prison library in the rehabilitative process is highly commendable. A review of related literature, semi-structured interviews, and life histories with inmates at four closed prisons in Sri Lanka and ex-prisoners and observation on Sri Lankan prison libraries found that prisoners and ex-prisoners see prison libraries as important in meeting their diverse information needs, assisting them to spend their time effectively during incarceration, and to overcome stress while enhancing their well-being by reading. This chapter also stresses the importance of a well-established prison library and the effective delivery of library services for desistance from crime. However, the majority of prison officials do not see the importance of a prison library in the rehabilitative process. Drawbacks and potential of prison libraries and several implications for practice are also elaborated in this chapter. Such implications will be of interest to prison administrators and library professionals.

This chapter examines the prisoners’ strike which took place throughout Great Britain in August 1972. The strike, the first of its kind in British penal history, took place against a background of sub-standard conditions in British prisons, with an outdated prison estate, overcrowding, ‘slopping out’, and a prison department preoccupied with secrecy. The strike was not a sporadic protest, rather it occurred during a year of social and political unrest both inside and outside prisons, and was led by an organisation of prisoners and ex-prisoners – the Union for the Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP). While the government recognised the need for improvements in prison conditions, it refused to recognise the right of prisoners to organise. An analysis of the 1972 strike and the role of PROP can inform contemporary penal reform and abolitionist debates among scholars, practitioners, activists, prisoners and ex-prisoners.