Survival, self-sufficiency, and repair: reentry strategies and resources for wrongfully convicted people

ABSTRACT

In this paper we draw on 26 in-depth interviews to explore the strategies and resources utilized by wrongfully convicted people to transition from prison to communities. Our findings suggest a multi-layered approach is necessary to address the challenges of reentry and reintegration for this sample. For some wrongfully convicted people, their adjustment to the community was affected by their experiences while incarcerated. Those who had more resources in prison were able to develop advantages making post-release hurdles more manageable. In the period directly after release, instrumental needs were critically important and typically supported by family members, friends and/or innocence organizations. Following this period, exonerees worked towards achieving sustainable routines, which usually involved obtaining employment to become financially secure. Many exonerees actively sought out opportunities to repair damages done through either mental health professionals or other exonerees/innocence support agencies; however, this process rarely resulted in feelings of closure. Nevertheless, many of the people interviewed in this project were successful after release but sometimes required services and support networks to build meaningful, healthy lives after prison. Study limitations and other policy implications are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Exoneration
• wrongful conviction
• reentry
• post-traumatic growth
• social support networks

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In this paper we use the term ‘wrongfully conviction’ and identify individuals as ‘wrongfully convicted’ as a blanket term to also discuss wrongful imprisonment.

2 All individuals interviewed in this project were convicted and live in the United States.

3 Throughout this paper we use the terms wrongfully convicted people and exonerees interchangeably. Although most of the individuals in this study have been exonerated, two are still fighting for legal acknowledgement of innocence. Justification for their inclusion can be found in the methods section.

4 Two of those we interviewed were involved in legal proceedings to be exonerated. These individuals are typically identified in popular media and by innocence support organizations as wrongfully convicted.

5 Race/ethnicity and gender demographics were compiled from the National Registry of Exoneration (http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/detaillist.aspx) accessed on 25 June 2020.

6 Regions were created from Census categories.

7 Approximate years were created through an Excel formula that randomly modified this value by +/− 20%.

8 This value was also created through the same Excel formula modifying values +/− 20%.

9 We acknowledge that in this project we also asked respondents to share their experiences. We are grateful to those who participated and hope this publication improves the lived experiences of wrongfully convicted people after incarceration.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU Collaborative Grant in Sustainability).