THE EFFECTS OF INCARCERATION AND SOCIAL STIGMA AFTER INCARCERATION
04/22/2020
Title
The Effects of Incarceration and Social Stigma After Incarceration
Introduction
Prisoners face many psychological and social problems incarceration. They have to face social stigma and mental health issues while in and after imprisonment. The difficulties incarceration become worse when a person has psychological effects. For such people, the prison environment is an extreme test, as their ability to control themselves is already restricted.
There are many issues faced by people’s incarceration. The experience of being in prison does not help positive personality changes, reinforces criminal inclinations, and introduces a specific lifestyle. According to a BBC report, harsh living conditions and punishments change some inmates to the core. They become cold, detached, and worse than they were before. Other people are influenced positively, take a new leaf, and become better people in society. Yet others are not transformed by prison experience at all as they go back to their life of crimes after serving their sentence[1].
Psychological Effects of Incarceration
There are many psychological issues faced by people who are in prison. Some features of the prison environment that can change individuals’ behavior include loss of free will, confidentiality, stigmatization, continuous fear, emotional indifference (to avoid abuse by other criminals), and they must follow strict rules incarceration. Incarceration can create psychological health conditions. In the United States, half of the criminals have some mental issues. 20% to 35% of prisoners in the United States suffer from serious psychological problems, such as schizophrenia.[2] According to Craig Haney, a professor of psychology, being confined in prison with restricted freedom and rights, causes prisoners to develop psychological disorders such as panic, depression, anxiety, or even hallucinations. From his research, he observed many prisoners enter into a prison without the mental illnesses but develop the conditions after being confined for a long time or being subjected to cruel treatment[3].
According to Craig Haney, people who come out of prison still face psychological issues because of the stigma and incarceration syndrome. If someone is facing psychological problems in detention, it is not easy for them to overcome this issue without any therapeutic help, which is hardly provided in prisons. According to the American Psychological Association, about half of the prisoners have mental health concerns. However, about 25% suffer from serious mental illnesses while in prison. Depression affects 10% of inmates, while 65% coexists with a personality disorder. Finally, the percentage of the prison population suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder is significant, with particular reference to migrant prisoners: from 4% to 20%.[4]
Criminals imprisoned within the criminal justice system are affected by severe health issues, health risk behaviors, and extreme death rates. The prisoners commonly experience poor health conditions, both physical and mental, not only in detention but also after getting out of incarceration. Reports from the Department of Justice claim that 6% of inmates suffer from heart problems, 10% from asthma, 11% from hypertension, and 13% from arthritis. Moreover, inmates have higher rates of head injury, fetal alcohol syndrome disorder, and psychological problems. Imprisonment creates serious mental risks for convicts; many of the prisoners have panic, fear, anger, sadness, and delusions, mostly when they are in prison for an extensive period (up to 20 years). Schizophrenia is the major issue faced by prisoner incarceration[5].
Incarceration, prisoners face a variety of disputes that affect their capability to become valuable members of society once they leave detention. Professional training and informative programs have not been used as commonly as they could be. Alsincarcerationion can create or worsen psychological health conditions.
Criminal Records are reported to the Credit Bureau.
The role of a criminal record is to trace the credit activities of the criminals. The criminal’s credit report is a track record of their credit activity as well as history. It contains the names of firms that have offered them credit or loans and the limits of credits and loans. Their payment record is also part of this track record. If they have criminal accounts, bankruptcies, foreclosures, or complaints, these can also be found in their credit report. However, criminal records are not recorded in consumer credit reports. [6]
Effects of Incarceration in Christian Worldview
There are many problems faced by prisoners. Overpopulation, for example, exacerbates adaptation problems. Other characteristics of prisons, such as the level of protection, the degree of permitted freedom, and available resources, can also influence people’s reactions to imprisonment. In Christian Worldview, adaptation to prison conditions is defined by the complex interaction of the characteristics of the individual and environmental factors and can also influence people’s reactions to imprisonment.[7]
The church extends love and grace to those in prison. In Matthew 25: 36-40, Jesus talks about helping those in prison. From the Christian point of view, the justice system should provide fair and reasonable punishment according to the crime committed. The prison culture should create opportunities for inmates to learn from their mistakes and join society as good neighbors. Prisons should be safe places where inmates are kept safe, respected, and treated with dignity.
In Mark 2: 17, Jesus claimed that it is not the healthy who need a physician but the ailing. He came to save the sinners. In the story of Zaccheaus, Jesus dined with him regardless of his corrupt nature. He gave him forgiveness, salvation, and love, which led to Zacchaeus to repent and transform. The church expects that prisons will be a safe place where prisoners will get an opportunity to transform and repent. In Exodus 21:13, God commands that no one should kill. This is an indication that criminal justice is not expected to provide punishments that will endanger the prisoner’s life. The BibleBible states that “Remember those in prison, as though in person with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you are in the body” (Hebrews 13:1. RSV). From a biblical point of view, it is clear that incarceration should be correctional facilities and not punishment facilities. If the facility is not meant to help the prisoners reflect on their wrongs, then they are not following the footsteps of Jesus and would be breaking God’s commands. However, the Bible does not claim that the wrongdoers should not be punished. Ezra 7: 26 states that whoever will not obey the law of your God and law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed upon him, whether for death or for banishment or for the confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment” (RSV).
Paul Vallely states that prisons should serve as places of redemption. There is forgiveness and reconciliation only if someone becomes aware of the pain that they have done to others. His talks are about justice, the meaning of life, guilt, and forgiveness. He wants people who have not been at one with themselves for a long time to be reconciled with themselves. If the prisoners cry and grieve, they know that they have achieved a lot because there is forgiveness and reconciliation only if someone becomes aware of the pain that they have done to others.[8]
According to Christian Worldview, the ex-offenders will not be with them in heaven after serving their punishment because they will remain sinful. Perhaps, not everyone has noticed that in tBibleBibleble, it is possible to find numerous incidents attributable to what today constitutes real crimes. Many of these behaviors would have been sanctioned even then; others, however, were tolerated or were considered entirely lawful. In Christian Worldview, a prison, especially when a person gets there for the first time, makes him rethink his whole life and his behavior in freedom. If a prisoner strives not to allow himself to become harsh with the entire world, then gradually, they start thinking of the terrible acts that they did in the past.
In conditions of isolation from society in the human soul, there is a keen perception of the main issues of life; life and death, good and evil, sin and repentance, love, and hate. The soul of such a person requires a clear answer to the question of why he turned out to be a criminal and rejected by society. Often, in prison, a prisoner comes to faith in God and looks for a confessor who can help him understand the issues and indicate a direct way to free his soul from the burden of sin. To spiritually protect himself during imprisonment and preserve the ability to return to life in civil society, an average person with a healthy soul.
The number of prisoners in private prisons is increasing every year. The major concern is that it is not the number of offenders increasing at a high rate, but because the inmates are staying longer than they should so that the prisons may benefit more. Other prisons go the extra mile to pay the courts so that they could administer harsh punishments. From the church viewpoint, such prisons exist for their selfish gains and not for the benefits of the prisoners, which is not godly. They end up causing emotional and psychological harm to the inmates instead of providing them with a chance to transform[9].
If a person goes to any Church, they know that they will have a good time there. They will feel peace of mind and soul with the grace of God. They know that God will give them inner peace and strength to overcome the issues. Unfortunately, sometimes some of the ex-prisoners, after their release from the prison they forget their oath and promises that they made to their God.[10]
Others remain faithful, the progeny of the church, prepare their lives according to the teachings of the Christian faith and morality, find socialization in civil society, get a job, revive or re-create their own family. But this is the freedom of man’s conscience, that he can choose the path of life by faith or reject the truth and again return to lawlessness, which is once again followed by years of captivity in prison.
With Christianity, a new concept comes into the world: freedom of choice. Now tlawLaw is just an instrument of awareness of one’s freedom. To blindly follow it is the path of the Pharisee; God does not need automatic machines. It is also impossible to completely discard Law because, without it, one can turn off the correct path and inadequately dispose of one’s freedom. Therefore, one should correlate one’s actions with one and the other, which, unfortunately, does not always work out.
Christian Worldview on Incarceration and Punishment
Jesus said today you would be with me in paradise. But the ex-offenders will not be with them in paradise after serving their sentence since. TBibleBibleble only provides limited information about Heaven, Hell, and the afterlife. Some aspects of eternity will never be understood fully, at least on this side of heaven. God simply did not reveal everything through scripture. However, tBibleBibleble suggests varying degrees of punishment in hell for non-believers and sinners, just as it speaks of different rewards in heaven for believers based on actions done here on earth.
God seeks to set criminals free not from their physical prison, but definitely from the incarceration on by sin, lack of knowledge, revolt, and stupid choices. Jesus found himself as the source of this liberty. As this is an essential part of God’s work, it is an integral part of the church’s effort as well. Most males and females in prison are there for a cause: They did the delinquency and are doing the period. Striking rock bottom is what pokes many criminals to take an honest aspect of their lives and cry out to divinity for forgiveness. God is already there to forgive those who love him.
TBibleBibleble does not explicitly state that an individual’s punishment in hell is initiated on the seriousness of his crimes. Original sin places the first relationship between man’s sin and punishment. The Bible considers a different reality, which involves different ways of divine action. The Old Testament interprets some natural disasters and painful situations as interventions by God who punishes.
In the Old Testament, God instituted the death penalty to punish serious and heinous crimes. The main reason for the death penalty in tBibleBibleble is murder. Human life is sacred because humans are formed in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, whoever kills another person deserves to die.
However, God’s justice is full of mercy. He is not happy with the death of anyone and, in some cases in the Bible, he forgave sins that deserved the death penalty when the criminal repented. The death penalty could also not be utilized in any way. Only the most serious crimes should be punished with death, after a fair trial and only through the faithful testimony of at least two people. Justice should be applied not only to the type of penalty but also to the entire judicial process. In Roman 13 1-4, authority comes from God, and he expects everybody to abide by the rules. Therefore, even if God is just and merciful, he expects that people follow the rules that exist in society
There is no doubt that God instituted the death penalty when he said to Adam: “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen. 2:17, RSV). Death as a reward for sin is a point that indisputably crosses the entiBibleBibleble. It does not mean that there were no mitigating factors or that, in many cases, divine or human compassion was not demonstrated. It just means that punishment with death has been a recurring thought in the Old Testament since its inception.
It is not easy to resolve the issue. However, one must not condemn those who, as Christians, can support the death penalty. They will not be doing it contrary to scripture. They will only be applying the scriptures to the situation around them. Those who disagree will do so because they understand real difficulties in this application. In any case, no one can deny that the death penalty is an element present in tBibleBibleble. Criminals supported by the state, with money from good citizens, often victims of these same criminals, also do not reflect true justice.
Social Stigma after Incarceration
After prisoners are released to the community, they have to face many problems regarding stigma. People label them as criminals and terrible individuals. Research shows that out of 262,000 offenders released from prison between 2002 and 2006, only 50% could secure employment. Also, most lack the opportunity to access public services such as education and housing facilities. Moreover, 6.1 million Americans cannot vote because they are convicted of felony offenses[11].
To this common observation on the effects of incarceration, the incarceration process has added the impact of degradation caused by the penitentiary system. In particular, the consequences related to the loss of freedom as a moment in which the prisoner experiences a relative deprivation of his potential as a human being, from the lack of decision-making autonomy, the feeling of instability, and insecurity caused by the different relationships that exist in the institution.
The shared action of these mechanisms does not reduce only to the period of detention, and it has been found that to a certain extent (declined based on the duration of the period spent in the institution) the described effects continue their destabilizing action even after release, following the ex-prisoners in their reintegration paths. These effects are improved by the fact that the post-detention period is often characterized by a return of the ex-prisoner to the environment from which he came, which is usually the situation that the ex-prisoner must face at the time of reintegration is the same negligible condition that he had left behind.[12]
The prison experience and after incarceration influences, the prisoner’s wellbeing mainly in two ways: from a personal point of view, the person whose self-conception has been repeatedly tested through the mechanisms of power that regulate the prisoner’s existence, manifests a high degree of hesitancy towards interpersonal relationships. The difficulties that an ex-prisoner encounters at the time of release are due to the principle of social stigma involved in having served the prison sentence.
When someone hears the word “prison,” most of them think of a place “where criminals are locked up and punished for their crimes and misconduct.” They rarely remember that a prison is not only meant to serve punishment but is also a place of improvement and discipline for those found guilty of a violation of the law.
Society treats former inmates with suspicion. It does not think for a moment that not all people behind bars are dangerous criminals. Many have committed only negligible misconduct, and some are even innocent. Not everyone who is in jail is the prisoner. However, their uncertainty and dislike of prisoners are best expressed through their generally negative attitude towards these people and their reluctance to accept their return to society.[13]
It is well known that almost all prisoners have great difficulty in reintegrating into society when they are released. The social acceptance for released prisoners is shallow without exception. It is tough for them to get rid of the stigma of being in prison. The stigma mostly affects all efforts by former prisoners to find a job.
Employers rarely want to take the risk of employing a person who has been in prison. Those who succeed in finding a job by keeping their past secret are usually fired as soon as their secret is revealed. Unemployment and the resulting financial shortage and rejection to which they are exposed will eventually force them to return to criminal activity.
The situation is not as good as for those who have been behind bars for many years, as well as for those who are innocent but got into something and were then convicted. After being released, these people have significant problems in coping with the reality of their lives. Society fails to tell the difference between them and other criminals. So, they see themselves, even if they are innocent, exposed to the aversion of society. The feeling of undeserved punishment has enormous potential to force them to commit criminal acts after they are released.
Ex-prisoners face stigmatization after their release, as well as the great difficulties in fitting into a society that has repeatedly made them understand that society does not accept them. Society willingly views them as criminals, but one should overlook their potential. Civil society must begin to help released prisoners to escape the evil cycle of crime, imprisonment, release, and return to crime.
Stigmatization Badly Affects the People After Incarceration
Just disciplining and reshaping prisoners is not enough. Rejection and failure to fully reintegrate into society may drive them back to the world of crime. The community needs to recognize that these people need competent leadership and the opportunity to find their way to real life. There are many aspects of this issue of criminal rehabilitation and many reasons why everyone should all be aware of this problem[14].
Addressing these issues would help these people return to society and have a chance to become responsible people who benefit the community. Society should accept them and treat them as human beings. Stigma severely affects their psychological wellbeing. When people keep on stigmatizing criminals, they might become criminals again. Prisoners have to face many social stigmas after incarceration.
Also, when it comes to the prisoner, it is worth stating that sometimes it is not he who will look for a job for himself, but his family, which makes the situation even more complicated. Therefore, in some cases, due to the lack of opportunities, and stigmatization, ex-convicts again become criminals to satisfy their needs.
Distrust and unemployment are just some examples of the stigma faced by these individuals. The person is labeled as a prisoner or ex-convict; he will never be seen within other eyes; he will always be the “prisoner” or the “ex-convict,” forever stigmatized. The most comprehensive, durable, and dense aggression is psychological, moral, ethical, and verbal, which takes place in everyday life, in social invisibly and silently, always subtle, in most cases, invisible. Thus, the ex-convict is violated psychologically, morally, ethically, and verbally, which reinforces self-stigmatization[15].
The biggest and most significant manifestation of aggression, after the time spent in prison, is found in the psychological sphere. In this sphere, souls and wounds do not heal quickly. They rarely treat, as a society will take care to remind them daily that in it (in the community), there is no room for them, which means showing the stigmatizing and unconscious symbols of prison. For the ex-convict, there is no other way of living, but carrying the imprisonment’s internal marks, which end up defining their way of thinking and acting.
The sociological study of individuals leaving a prison requires analysis of the role they play in the social relations system. The actors who were released from the prison were, before imprisonment, parts of a play set in a scenario of social transgression. Thus, one must consider the social relations of the individual who, after being imprisoned, experienced the intensification of a continuous anomic process, in a social context marked by all sorts of adversity.
Then, the ex-convict’s stigma is analyzed, exposed by the lack of credibility, not only by society but by the ex-convict himself, who also does not trust himself anymore. As if society’s complete lack of credibility were not enough, about everything that the ex-prisoner does, there is still the feeling of a complete inability of him to impose himself as useful and necessary to society[16].
Without qualification, the ex-convict faces the problem of having to survive in poverty. Without the right to work, because of his disqualification and stigma, he remains to live as a prisoner of his social condition. The misery to which he is subjected forces him to search the wrong path for a way of survival. His wife and children are waiting for him to bring home some kind of subsistence that, to the ex-convict, can only be obtained in a criminal way or under the line of social misery.
The loss of identity of the social group with the offending individual was also observed in the present study. In some cases, not only the neighborhood but also the family breaks with the group and does not allow any means of approach. The family and the community exclude the offender and expose them to an anonymous process. Finally, the loss of citizenship is also considered. Without qualification and identification with the social environment, the offending individual even loses his nationality, although, for them, that citizenship was merely non-existent [17].
Conclusion
Offenders face many psychological and social problems while in and out incarceration. The people who have subjective questions become worse in confinement. Christian Worldview states the penalties and sentences for those who commit crimes and sins. A sinful person has to face a punishment of their crimes.[18]
The ex-convict also faces the dilemma of loss of self-confidence and any expectation of acceptance. Society no longer trusts them. There is now a complete lack of credibility in society, to everything that the ex-prisoner does. The ex-convict experiences a feeling of total helplessness to impose themselves. They realize that after serving their sentence, they continue to be pursued by the prison apparition. The stigma of a way out of the prison system reduces the chances of the individual returning to the formal job market. In this way, there is no other way than to recur.
Bibliography
American Psychological Association. “Incarceration Nation. The United States leads the world incarceration. A new report explore why-and offers recommendations for fixing the system”. 45 (9): 56
“A Place Of Redemption: A Christian Approach To Punishment And Prison | Article Archive.” 2004. Paulvallely.Com. Accessed April 21, 2020. http://paulvallely.com/archive/?p=6387.
Bates, Wanda Lynn. “A phenomenological examination of the prison and the psychological effects of incarceration.” (2018).
Christian Jarrett. “How prison changes people.” Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180430-the-unexpected-ways-prison-time-changes-people
Denver, Megan, Justin T. Pickett, and Shawn D. Bushway. “The language of stigmatization and the mark of violence: Experimental evidence on the social construction and use of criminal record stigma.” Criminology, 55, no. 3 (2017): 664-690.
Fogle, Lindsey. “Sorrow and Joy: The Impact of Imprisonment on the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” Ph.D. diss., 2016.
John Ulziheimer. “Are criminal records on credit reports? 2013. Retrieved from https://blog.smartcredit.com/2013/01/31/are-criminal-records-on-credit-reports/
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“The Bible Speaks On Prisons ·.” 2013. Ethicsdaily.Com. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://ethicsdaily.com/the-bible-speaks-on-prisons-cms-21192.
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[1] Christian Jarrett. “How prison changes people.” Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180430-the-unexpected-ways-prison-time-changes-people
[2] Denver, Megan, Justin T. Pickett, and Shawn D. Bushway. “The language of stigmatization and the mark of violence: Experimental evidence on the social construction and use of criminal record stigma.” Criminology, 55, no. 3 (2017): 664-690.
[3] American Psychological Association. “Incarceration Nation. The United States leads the world incarceration. A new report explore why-and offers recommendations for fixing the system”. 45 (9): 56
[4] Liske, Jim. 2015. “The Christian And The Criminal Justice System – Prison Fellowship.” Prison Fellowship. Accessed April 21, 2020. https://www.prisonfellowship.org/2015/11/the-christian-and-the-criminal-justice-system/.
[5] Laura M. Mauruschak. Medical problems of jail inmates. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special report. 2006. NCJ 210696
[6] John Ulziheimer. “Are criminal records on credit reports? 2013. Retrieved from https://blog.smartcredit.com/2013/01/31/are-criminal-records-on-credit-reports/
[7] “Fogle, Lindsey. Sorrow and Joy: The Impact of Imprisonment on the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Diss. 2016.
[8] “A Place Of Redemption: A Christian Approach To Punishment And Prison | Article Archive.” 2004. Paulvallely.Com. Accessed April 21, 2020. http://paulvallely.com/archive/?p=6387.
[9] Shankar Vendantam. “How private prisons affect sentencing” 2019. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/28/736875577/hidden-brain-how-private-prisons-affect-sentencing
[10] “PUNISHMENT, PRISONS, AND THE BIBLE | Crime, And Consequence.” 2020. Myjli.Com. Accessed April 21, 2020. http://myjli.com/crime/index.php/lesson-1/punishment-prisons-and-the-bible/.
[11] The Leadership Conference. “Barriers to successful re-entry of formerly incarcerated people. Retrieved from http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/criminal-justice/Re-Entry-Fact-Sheet.pdf
[12] Bates, Wanda Lynn. “A phenomenological examination of the prison and the psychological effects of incarceration.” (2018)
[13] Massoglia, Michael, and Brianna Remster. “Linkages between incarceration and health.” Public Health Reports, 134, no. 1_suppl (2019): 8S-14S.
[14] Travis, Jeremy, and Michelle Waul. Prisoners Once Removed: The Impact of Incarceration and Re-entry on Children, Families, and Communities. Washington, D.C: Urban Institute Press, 2003. Print
[15] Travis, Jeremy, and Michelle Waul. Prisoners Once Removed: The Impact of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities. Washington, D.C: Urban Institute Press, 2003. Print
[16] Committee, on C. C. H. R. I. Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. National Academies Press, 2014. Print.
[17] Committee on C. C. H. R. I. Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. National Academies Press, 2014. Print.
[18] “The Bible Speaks On Prisons ·.” 2013. Ethicsdaily.Com. Accessed April 22, 2020. https://ethicsdaily.com/the-bible-speaks-on-prisons-cms-21192/.