Being and Becoming an Ex-Prisoner

Diana F. Johns is Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

• 1. What’s the post-release problem?2. A catalogue of post-prison disadvantage3. The post-release problem4. Assemblage, culture, liminality5. Phenomenography6. Lived experience of release7. Post-release support perspectives8. Home, identity, connection9. Being and becoming

‘Driven by a collection of gripping self-narratives, Johns tells an old story in a powerful, original way, tracking the bleak journey from the existential isolation of the prison to the existential isolation of release, always from the perspective of ex-prisoners themselves. The reader is left wondering where does ‘risk’ reside? In the people released from prison or in the communities that sent them there to begin with?’–Shadd Maruna, Professor of Criminology, University of Manchester, UK, and author of Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives‘"Liminality is experienced as not quite fitting in, not belonging, no longer a prisoner but not entirely free either." So writes Diana Johns in the final chapter of her brilliant book. Through in-depth interviews with ex-prisoners and post-release workers (some of whom are themselves ex-prisoners), Johns deftly and empathetically brings to light the personal struggles to emerge from the stigma of imprisonment. More than this, she shows how such struggles are always already social – that ‘moving on’ after serving single or multiple periods in prison requires not only individual effort but transformation in the ways that communities ‘receive’ and conceive ex-prisoners. The book is filled with just the right mix of hard-hitting narrative excerpts and theoretically sophisticated analyses. In short, Being and Becoming an Ex-Prisoner makes a major contribution to criminological thought.’ –Mark Halsey, Professor of Criminology, Flinders University, Australia‘Taking a phenomenological perspective on the experience of prisoner reentry, Diana Johns challenges popular notions of the 'post-release' experience by offering detailed narratives that capture the intense personal confusion, fear and isolation of released former prisoners. Johns reveals a subaltern mix of challenges facing stigmatized citizens never fully integrated into society prior to prison – but then expected to adapt while facing challenges of mental illness, institutionalization, addiction, and poverty. The unsuitability of prisons and their progeny for truly helping people comes to the fore. Johns' professional experience in the field prior to becoming an academic sets the stage. Required reading.’–Michael Hallett, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of North Florida, USA